


it started out as extra credit (and ended up as so much more)

by LilGreenMochi (AkiSutaHatter)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, JohnTen TaeKun and MarkHyuck are Developing Romances, M/M, a cup of coffee references because i can't stop myself, basically no angst because i can't deal with it, but this time.....they're a study group, i started writing this before shotaro and sungchan were announced and im mad about it, it's just 21 boys being soft and funny, kun and taeyong are both single fathers until they're suddenly not, m for innuendo and Horny Thoughts but nothing explicitly saucy, renjun taeil and yangyang out here being single and loving it, soft fluff, the others are all long term boyfriends, yes another college au leave me alone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25383973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkiSutaHatter/pseuds/LilGreenMochi
Summary: Johnny, Mark, and Jaehyun find themselves somehow roped into running a tutoring/study group for 18 international students who are supposed to be getting help with their English.Instead, Johnny gets stuck with Ten (who he may or may not have had a crush on for the past few years), Mark has to deal with Donghyuck without Renjun to protect him, and Taeyong meets the mysterious 'Chinese Dad' that Chenle and Renjun keep mentioning.a.k.a three different love stories stemming from the inadequacies of the american college system in supporting students whose first language is not English
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Lee Taeyong/Qian Kun, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 18
Kudos: 144





	1. In which Ten is regularly the cause of Johnny's arrhythmia but Johnny's ok with it

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i know this probably is not in any way how american colleges work (i'm english, sue me) but OH WELL suspend your disbelief please also there is a random mixture of stage names and real names because i just picked the name i use the most for each person so please forgive me for that
> 
> the focus of the first chapter will be JohnTen, but KunTae and MarkHyuck will have their time in the spotlight
> 
> thank you to my biffle clare for making me an adorable moodboard and for threatening me into finishing this!! and for being an amazing beta for chapter 2!!
> 
> for context here are their ages:
> 
> SENIORS:  
> Taeil, Johnny, Yuta, Taeyong
> 
> JUNIORS:  
> Kun, Ten, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Sicheng, Jungwoo
> 
> SOPHMORES:  
> Yukhei, Mark, Xiaojun, Hendery, Renjun, Donghyuck, Jeno, Jaemin
> 
> FRESHMEN:  
> Yangyang, Chenle, Jisung
> 
> please enjoy!!!xxx

When you got right down to it, very little of the whole situation had actually been Johnny’s fault. Sure, he’d turned up to his English seminar 30 minutes late with a Starbucks coffee, but in his defence he’d been up all night studying after getting home from practice really late so really, he should be rewarded for his diligence.

Instead, he gets this: emotional blackmail from his teacher. Well, ok, not technically blackmail, but she did say that she’d leave the late mark off of his record if he gave up two hours a week to help Mark lead a student-tutoring group for the international students who were struggling somewhat with the language barrier. She’d even thrown in a promise of some extra credit that would boost his average for the class enough that all he’d need to do in the final was pass and he’d still be sitting comfortably on a 3.5 GPA. He’d spent a moment weighing up the options in his mind: suffering through the tutoring sessions for a semester, or explaining to his mother why he was suddenly getting late marks in his senior year of college. He’d made it through his entire education thus far without getting scolded on that front, and it didn’t matter that his mother was several states away – he could already feel the chill aura of her wrath approaching him.

Johnny was certain that there was no way something as simple as tutoring could be worse than that.

~

It took approximately 5 minutes of one session for him to start thinking that maybe being beaten around the head with whatever object was closest to his mother’s dominant hand would be a better option.

Johnny had felt almost optimistic about the whole thing when he’d noted that Mark had been successful in guilt tripping Jaehyun into joining them for their forced tutoring. The three of them had been close throughout high school and into college, and he trusted them implicitly (even if Mark did have a terrible habit of being unable to provide more complex emotional support than “Damn, that sucks bro…” any time Johnny was having a difficult time).

Then his eyes scanned across the collected group of various East Asian international students, and he felt his heart almost drop out of his ass.

The thing about Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul (who had thankfully told every student he encountered to call him Ten on the grounds that he liked that much more than being pissed off at every mangled attempt to pronounce his name) was that he was breathtakingly beautiful, insanely talented, and the most horrendous flirt Johnny had ever encountered in his entire life. Ten, on the whole, was not good for Johnny’s heart, blood pressure, or sanity; mainly because he insisted on making Johnny as flustered as possible any time they were remotely near each other.

Really, though, the worst part about it was that Johnny was really, _really_ into Ten. Like, hold his hand on a romantic walk through the park kind of into him. Which completely sucked, because Ten flirted with everyone and even if he _was_ interested in Johnny, it was almost certainly just for sex. And that wasn’t Johnny projecting his own insecurities – his first interaction with Ten had been while they were both tipsy at a frat party and had culminated in Ten saying that he would very much like to “climb Johnny like a tree”, before he’d been dragged away by his long-suffering best friend Taeyong in an attempt to save the final vestiges of Ten’s virtue.

Not that Ten had much virtue to begin with, if the rumours constantly flying around campus were to be believed.

Johnny’s eyes couldn’t seem to move on from where Ten had seated himself on top of a table, one combat-booted foot planted on the seat of a chair and the other swinging casually as he laughed at something Yuta had said. Johnny took advantage of the other man’s distraction to skim his eyes over his body – well dressed as always, hair currently a light brown and falling attractively into his eyes, which were scrunched up adorably as he giggled.

 _Fuck,_ Johnny really was gone for him.

He forced himself to look away from Ten, noting that he was, as always, flanked by Yuta and Taeyong. This time, however, the trio was accompanied by a student that Johnny didn’t know the name of but recognised as one of Mark’s sophomore friends. Jacob or Jamie or something like that.

There were a few other students already in the classroom, several that Johnny already knew and more that he didn’t. He recognised Jaehyun’s boyfriend Doyoung, of course – they’d actually been hanging out quite a lot in the months that the two had been dating, and Johnny liked Doyoung way more than he’d liked any of Jaehyun’s previous hook-ups. For one thing, Doyoung actually cleaned up after himself whenever he was in Johnny and Jaehyun’s shared apartment and had never wandered around naked when Johnny was there to see it. He was a really nice dude despite his occasional nit-picking, and he and Jaehyun absolutely adored each other, so he was all good in Johnny’s book.

He recognised Taeil, as well, a fellow senior who had been in a lot of Johnny’s classes and who he’d occasionally had reason to grab coffee with during group projects and shared late-night study sessions. He knew Yukhei (and, by extension, Yukhei’s boyfriend Jungwoo) from their college basketball club, a very cute and incredibly weird couple if ever there was one. Still, Johnny liked them well enough – Yukhei was loud and kind of stupid but in a way that made you think of a golden retriever, and Jungwoo might have been the nicest person Johnny had ever met, so there was that.

He vaguely recognised Mark’s little squad; assorted sophomores and freshmen who travelled around the campus in a pack yelling at and physically assaulting each other at any opportunity. The only ones whose names he could remember were Donghyuck, who lived with Mark and appeared to exist with the sole intention of making others suffer, and Jeno, who he’d met a few times at various sport frat parties since he was on the soccer team with Yuta. The rest were a mystery.

The biggest mystery to Johnny was the bundle of four students sitting close together and chattering back and forth in what he vaguely recognised as Mandarin. He was pretty sure he’d seen the one with blue hair and an overwhelming aura of exhaustion with Ten on a few occasions, but the others were a complete unknown. They looked young, and seemed to be smiling, so Johnny hoped they’d be a nice addition to the group.

He did a quick headcount – there were supposed to be 18 students who had signed up for the tutoring, but there seemed to be someone missing. Just as the thought popped into his head, the door quietly swung open and a slight figure slipped into the room.

“Sichengie!” Yuta’s loud voice cut across the chatter like a foghorn, and the newcomer flushed, smiled softly, and pushed his way through the room to slide himself into the seat next to his boyfriend.

Honestly, it seemed that no one on their entire campus could fully work out how Yuta, loud and sporty and with a reputation as something of a flirt, had ended up in a relationship with the quiet, sweet, graceful Sicheng. It had been a blink-and-you-miss-it courtship: one day, they were Yuta and Sicheng, and the next they were Yuta-and-Sicheng, holding hands and kissing each other’s cheeks before classes and cheering each other wildly at their respective extracurricular activities. Johnny, who had unfortunately known Yuta for the last four years, had gotten to know Sicheng well enough and had come to realise that dwelling underneath that soft exterior there was a sharp wit and a complete unwillingness to put up with bullshit that made them a very well-matched couple, as shown by the fact that they had been together since Sicheng was a freshman and seemed as head-over-heels for each other now as they had been then.

With the group assembled, and with his misfortunate of being the oldest of the assigned tutors, Johnny decided it was probably his responsibility to get everyone’s attention and attempt to start the study session. God knew Mark wasn’t going to do it, and Jaehyun was too busy making heart eyes at his man to remember that they were supposed to be leading the group.

_Think about the extra credit. Think about the safety from your mother. You can do this._

“Um, hey everyone!” Johnny raised his voice enough that everyone in the room turned to face him expectantly, and pointedly ignored the lecherous smile that appeared on Ten’s face. “For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Johnny. I’m a senior and English is one of my majors, so I guess I’m your guy. I think you’re all enrolled in a level of “English as a Foreign Language”, right?” He looked at Jaehyun and Mark for confirmation, and they nodded. Johnny pushed his hair out of his eyes and continued, forcing himself to speak slowly.

“The three of us are supposed to be running this as a tutoring and study group, so we’ll split you all up by age and run it that way. So you’ll be in groups of six with one of us to help out, but if you need extra help you can just…talk to whoever. If that sounds ok.” There’s no response, and Johnny coughs awkwardly, picking up the list of names he’d been given by the teacher. It was helpfully split up by academic year, so Johnny read off the first six names.

“So my group will be Taeil, Yuta, Taeyong, Kun, Doyoung, and…” Johnny tried to fight the blush that threatened to creep onto his cheeks.

“Ten.”

Maybe death at his mother’s hands would have been better.

Jaehyun took the list from Johnny’s hands, patting him sympathetically on the shoulder as the mischievous aura coming from Ten and Yuta’s direction threatened to swallow Johnny whole.

“And with me are Sicheng, Jungwoo, Yukhei, Xiaojun, Hendery, and Renjun.” Jaehyun’s eyes slid sideways towards Doyoung, who pouted theatrically at being abandoned.

Mark looked exhausted just looking at the remaining students. “So the rest of you are with me – Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jeno, Chenle, Jisung, and Yangyang.”

Johnny’s pretty sure he saw Taeyong and unknown-friend-of-Ten wince and throw sympathetic looks in Mark’s direction, but he decided not to comment on it. The grin on Donghyuck’s face could only be described as demonic, and suddenly Johnny thought Mark might be the one who wouldn’t make it to the end of the semester.

Johnny cleared his throat, stood to his full height (which is about 3cm taller than he usually appeared what with his perpetual stoop: he calls it ‘swagger’, Doyoung calls it ‘future spinal problems’), and addressed the assembled group. “So, since it’s kinda tight in here for so many people, the teacher booked the room next door as well, so my group should come with me.”

He didn’t wait for the group to assemble before he made a beeline for the door, and that definitely was not because Ten stood up way too fast and hadn’t taken his eyes off Johnny since he’d started speaking.

Definitely not.

~

Johnny, with the help of Doyoung and unknown-friend-of-Ten (who introduced himself as Kun), pushed several tables together and rearranged the chairs so the seven of them were sitting facing each other in a manner not unlike a very awkward dinner party.

Though maybe Johnny was just projecting his own awkwardness onto the group. He ran his hand through his hair again, thinking to himself that he really needed to invest in some better conditioner if he was going to keep dyeing it, and cleared his throat once more.

“So…maybe we should introduce ourselves so we can all get to know each other a bit better? And if you could let me know what languages you’re comfortable with, that would be awesome.” Johnny said, pulling out a notebook and pen and quickly scribbling down the date. “I’ll go first – my name’s Johnny, I’m a Music and English double major, and I’m currently a senior. I’m fluent in both English and Korean, so…yeah.” He coughed and looked to Taeyong, who was sitting to his left.

“Hi, I’m Taeyong, I’m a senior, my majors are Dance and Visual Arts, I am from Korea.” He spoke in a run-on sentence, as if he was rushing to get the words out. His English was clearly accented, and he seemed unconfident in his speech, but the pronunciation was good, and Johnny had shared enough classes with him over the years to know that Taeyong’s conversational English was much better than the man himself seemed to think. Johnny smiled at him then turned to Yuta, who gave Taeyong a thumbs up.

“Hi everyone, I’m Yuta. I speak Japanese and Korean, I’m a senior majoring in Sports Science.” Again, his English wasn’t perfect, but he seemed a lot more confident than Taeyong, and again Johnny had known Yuta long enough to be aware that even if his academic English was lacking in places, he could pull his weight in classes.

Ten grinned at Johnny lasciviously, then turned to the rest of the group. “My name is Ten, I’m a Pisces, I love anything chocolate, and I can play the guitar. Oh, and I speak Thai, English, Korean, and Mandarin, with enough Japanese to get by.”

Kun lent across the table and whacked Ten on the head with his own notebook, but Ten didn’t seem phased in the slightest, instead winking at Johnny who flushed and turned his attention to Taeil.

Taeil smiled and waved genially. “Hi, I’m Taeil, I’m a senior and I major in music. I speak Korean.” His English might have been the worst so far, but it was still pretty good all things considered. Despite seeming to almost exclusively hang out with other Korean international students and rarely speaking up in class, Taeil had the rhythm of English down pretty well.

Doyoung gave Johnny a slightly withering look, then spoke as if reciting a very boring speech he’d been told to give. “Hi, my name is Doyoung, I’m a junior and I study Philosophy and Politics. I am also from Korea.” Jaehyun and Johnny had both been helping Doyoung with his English more and more recently, and it definitely showed. Johnny felt weirdly proud of the younger man.

Kun smiled at Johnny, then gave a little wave to the rest of the group. “Hello, I’m Kun. I’m a music and sound engineering major in my junior year. I’m from China, and I speak fluent Mandarin and Korean.”

Johnny blinked. “Why are you introducing yourself in Korean? I’m supposed to be helping you with English.”

Kun shot him a look that seemed almost exasperated. “My English is perfectly fine, and I have no intention of speaking it any more than I absolutely have to.”

“Then…why did you sign up for tutoring?” Johnny’s brow furrowed as he considered the blue-haired man.

Kun pointed and glared at Ten. “To keep an eye on him. And my other children, but you’ve dragged me away from them and left Mark to deal with Chenle and Yangyang by himself.”

Taeyong’s head shot up and he looked at Kun in surprise, switching back to Korean quickly. “Wait, you’re Chinese dad?”

Kun sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately. It’s better than Mom, I had to threaten Chenle with no more hot pot if he didn’t give that one up.” He paused, then looked back at Taeyong with similar incredulity. “Are you Korean dad?”

Taeyong nodded, and the expressions of surprise, relief, and exhaustion on both of their faces was so eerily similar that Johnny did a double take. “It’s like I collect stray children. I can’t seem to stop it.”

Ten rolled his eyes. “Both of you act as if you don’t actively parent them all the time.”

Kun glared at Ten across the table. “It’s not my fault none of them eat properly if they aren't in our apartment.”

“It’s strangely comforting to know that when Chenle and Renjun aren’t stealing the food from my fridge, they’re stealing from yours.” Taeyong smiled full-force at Kun, and Johnny almost felt sorry for him. Being on the receiving end of Taeyong’s smile at maximum was like looking directly into the sun, and Kun clearly hadn’t been prepared for it. His cheeks were slightly flushed when he looked down at the table, clutching at his pen with a white knuckled grip.

Johnny decided to save Kun from the weight of Taeyong’s attention and pulled out the register that the teacher had given him earlier in the day. “So, if you guys can just, like…tick your names off on this list, so I can tell the teacher you showed up.”

They passed the remainder of the hour with Johnny explaining how the tutoring would work – he was basically there to help them with their homework, answer questions about the curriculum, and “generally make their communication more confident”, whatever that was supposed to mean. Ten didn’t take his eyes off Johnny once, even when Yuta tugged lightly on one of his earrings to get his attention. In fact, on several occasions he’d asked Johnny to help him with translating something despite the fact that he was basically fluent in English and had previously had no problems with any of his classes. But still, Johnny couldn’t help it when Ten asked for ‘Johnny-hyung’ in his sweet, lilting voice.

Insert whipcrack sound effect here, as Mark would say. Though he would do the same for Donghyuck in an instant, so Johnny tended to ignore those kinds of comments.

By the time they left the room, with Kun hurrying off in a panic having received a text and muttering something under his breath about ‘Yukhei’ and ‘lizards’ and ‘fire hazard’, Johnny felt like five years of his life had been drained away. Done with classes for the day, he made his way back to the apartment he shared with Jaehyun. Johnny made it as far as the living room couch before collapsing unceremoniously into a heap, burying his face into the cushions before thinking better of it. Pre-Doyoung Jaehyun had not been good at keeping his…activities to the privacy of his own room, and Johnny had only washed the couch cushions once (when his mother had come to visit), so putting his entire face into one might not have been the best idea. He flipped himself onto his back, staring listlessly at the ceiling as the muffled sound of the Coldplay song still playing from the headphones now hanging around his neck lulled his brain into a comforting state of numb exhaustion.

The peace was completely shattered about fifteen minutes later when Mark threw the door of their apartment open and stomped in.

“Bro, I’m seriously gonna lose it! How am I supposed to tutor Donghyuck without Renjun to terrify him into silence? You gotta tell Jaehyun he has to swap with me.” Mark stormed his way over to the other couch, throwing himself onto it with a huff.

“Tell Jaehyun yourself. Besides, isn’t Donghyuck like… your best friend? You’ll be able to tutor him way better than Jaehyun would.”

“Dude, it’s like you don’t even know Hyuckie. He’s my best bro – apart from you, duh – but it’s like all he wants to do is mess with me or something. It’s so whack.” Mark pouted, and Johnny laughed.

“If he’s such a problem, why is he your best friend?” The older man pointed out.

Mark hesitated, then folded his arms and leant back against the couch cushions with a petulant expression on his face. “He just is. He’s cool. And fun, when he’s not being a tool. He’s, like, a really nice guy sometimes, even though most of the time he’s messing with me.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Then you should be fine with tutoring him.”

Mark groaned again but didn’t argue back.

It wasn’t long before Jaehyun and Doyoung entered the apartment as well, hand in hand and laughing at something on Jaehyun’s phone. Doyoung lifted a plastic bag with his free hand and waved it in Mark and Johnny’s direction.

“I’m gonna make dinner. Are you two joining us?” He asked, making his way over to their cramped kitchen. One of the many benefits that came of Jaehyun dating Doyoung – Doyoung was an excellent cook, and really enjoyed making food for others.

Mark lit up. “Hell yeah, bro! You’re such a good cook, hyung.”

Doyoung inclined his head like a queen addressing her subjects. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Mark-ah. Johnny-hyung, are you hungry?”

Johnny shook his head. “Nah, but thanks for the offer. I’m gonna go study then pass out. Later guys.” With that, he headed off into his room, and he definitely didn’t let his thoughts drift to Ten as he fell asleep.

~

Two days later, Johnny approached the tutoring room with a strange cocktail of anticipation and dread mixing in his stomach.

Jaehyun, with his propensity for making friends everywhere he went within seconds of meeting someone, had already made a group chat with his study group and seemed unreasonably enthused about meeting up with them again.

“I mean, I kinda knew Jungwoo and Sicheng already since we had a few Gen Ed classes together last year, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the others around, but they’re all so nice! Hendery’s pretty weird if I’m honest, but he’s actually really fun and pretty good at English. He’s mostly there to help out his boyfriend, Xiaojun, isn’t that cute?” Jaehyun was positively gushing, and Johnny resisted smacking him on the back of the head for all of five seconds before giving in to his base urges.

“Ow, bro! Don’t be mad at me just because your study group has the two most terrifying gays on campus in it. Besides, you’ve got Doyoung and Taeil to protect you.” Jaehyun shot Johnny a wounded look, smoothing his hair with a hand.

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Do you honestly think that Doyoung and Taeil are any match for Yuta and Ten when they’re in the mood to be…like that?”

Jaehyun paused, torn between defending his boyfriend and admitting the truth, before sighing and conceding defeat.

As they reached the door of the classroom, Johnny forced himself to calm down and think about things more positively. The novelty of toying with Johnny’s fragile heart would probably wear off soon, or Ten would get bored of pretending to not be basically fluent in English and give up. Things might be better today.

Johnny’s hopes were dashed as soon as he opened the door and heard Kun’s voice saying something in Mandarin to Ten, sounding thoroughly exhausted and definitely talking about Johnny if the number of times his name had been mentioned in the ten seconds since he’d opened the door were anything to go by. Ten, for his part, seemed intent on riling Kun up as much as possible, sitting with one leg up on his chair and grinning at him while very clearly completely ignoring every word he was saying.

Everyone around them who could understand seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the conversation: Jaehyun’s new friends Xiaojun and Hendery were watching intently and cackling every few seconds, Mark’s friend (who Johnny had learned from a quick scroll through Mark’s Instagram was called Chenle) was laughing so hard his eyes had scrunched up cutely, and Sicheng appeared to be giggling and translating the lecture for Yuta. Sadly, Johnny wasn’t close enough to catch what Sicheng was saying but judging by Kun’s tone he was definitely in the middle of berating Ten for something.

Johnny cleared his throat as he finally stepped through the door, catching the look of pity Kun sent his way before looking over towards Jaehyun for support.

Unfortunately, there was no support to be found – Jaehyun had immediately struck up a conversation with Jungwoo and Sicheng, abandoning Johnny in his hour of need because suddenly there was someone right next to him _oh fuck-_

“Hi Johnny, are you looking forward to class today?” Ten was looking up at him through fluttering eyelashes, fiddling with one sparkling earring as he spoke. Johnny immediately forgot every word in every language and stared at Ten for a full ten seconds before his brain rebooted.

“Um, it’s not really class. I’m not like, a teacher or anything…” Johnny rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and Ten’s grin only widened.

“You mean you don’t want to be Johnny-seongsaengnim?” The younger man’s eyes sparkled with feigned innocence as Johnny’s face slowly turned tomato-red.

“I mean, not really, I’m just helping you guys out and you don’t even need my help.” Johnny said, praying that any potentially listening higher powers out there would take pity on him and hit him with a lightning bolt in the next 45 seconds.

“I need a lot of help, Johnny-hyung. I might have to take up all your time in today’s session. I’m _really_ struggling, hyung.” Ten’s tone was lilting, teasing, and he was looking up through his eyelashes in such a sultry way that Johnny felt like he was about three seconds away from crumbling into dust on the spot. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, no words coming out, and there was a flash of mischief in Ten’s eyes. Ten went to speak again but couldn’t get anything else out before a hand was covering his mouth and pulling him away as hard as possible.

Kun nodded his head in a half-bow as he shoved Ten behind him. “I apologise for him. Please ignore everything he says at all times, he’s a menace and I can’t control him.”

Johnny laughed awkwardly, scratching at his cheek as if that would do anything to hide his blush and finally managing to muster up some words from somewhere in the pile of goo that had once been his brain. “It’s chill, man. He didn’t do anything.”

Kun didn’t look like he believed him, instead turning around to shove Ten back into his seat while muttering something in rapid Mandarin. Ten, for his part, repeated whatever it was Kun had said in a mocking, high-pitched voice, which made the other Chinese students break out into peels of laughter.

Johnny closed his eyes and counted to five before looking over towards Mark for sympathy and finding none there. Jaehyun had decided to move his group into the other room for today’s session, so Johnny and Mark were left together with their respective students as everyone began working on their various assignments and projects.

By the end of the session, Johnny had come to appreciate his group much more – sure, he might be at risk of having to hide an awkward boner at Ten’s antics and the group’s constant teasing of Doyoung made Johnny slightly concerned that the usually peaceful man would suddenly snap and stab Yuta in the eye with his pen, but at least they weren’t Mark’s group.

“Markie-hyung! Heeeeeelp!” Donghyuck whined, repeatedly smacking Mark’s arm as he tried to help Jeno with a literature essay that he was translating from Korean into English.

“Yangyang, can you give Hyuckie a hand? I’m kinda busy here.” Mark asked, exasperation evident in his voice.

Yangyang grinned cheekily and leaned over to pinch at Donghyuck’s cheek. “Sure thing, hyung. Come on _Hyuckie,_ what’s wrong?”

Donghyuck batted at Yangyang’s hand and attempted to shove him away, but he managed to dodge and smiled wider. “Aw, don’t be like that _Hyuckie,_ I can, like, help you with your English when your _Markie-hyung_ is busy.”

“Your English is shitty compared to hyung’s, you’ll make me write ‘like’ in every sentence and randomly switch to German or Mandarin when you can’t remember a word.”

“Aw, that’s like, really unfair Hyuckie. Just because your _hyungie_ is older and you like hi-"

Chenle and Jaemin seemed to be enjoying the spat between the two, laughing hysterically as Donghyuck suddenly stood and made a grab for the brunette, who giggled and ducked away from his grip. There was the sound of the door banging against the wall, and suddenly both of them were gone, the clamour of their voices fading as the pair rapidly moved away from the room.

Kun looked towards Taeyong, having watched most of the interaction, and sighed. “It’s one of mine and one of yours. Do you want to go after them or shall I?”

Taeyong closed his notebook and looked back at Kun with a small smile. “We could go together? Safety in numbers.”

“Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” If Kun’s eyes were slightly wide and Ten seemed to be not-so-subtly grinning and nudging the blue-haired man, Johnny thought it best not to mention it.

When, a few minutes later, the two returned engrossed in quiet conversation with Yangyang and Donghyuck in tow – neither looking particularly subdued by their scolding and both instead chatting away happily in Korean about some group they shared a love for – Ten and Yuta shot each other and then Johnny conspiratorial smiles. At Johnny’s confused expression, Yuta clarified their meaning with a wide smile and an unsettling linking together of his fingers.

“I think it may be time for us to do a little meddling.”

~

As the weeks passed, Johnny noticed several strange things beginning to happen that had to have been the direct result of the study group.

The first was that he found himself spending a lot of his time outside of classes with Yuta and Taeyong. Despite the fact that they were the same age and he and Yuta had a lot of friends in common through the sports teams, the closest he’d gotten to ‘hanging out’ with either of them had been helping Yukhei support Yuta during a keg stand at one of Jackson’s wilder parties (every sports team agreed that parties hosted by the fencing team were the best, if only because Jackson Wang could single-handedly host 300 drunk sports players and still have a fairly clean house at the end of it). But suddenly, he found himself going to the gym with Yuta at least once a week, or grabbing coffee with Taeyong after one of their shared general education or music classes, or, on one particularly memorable occasion, eating dinner with the two of them in Taeyong, Yuta, and Sicheng’s apartment. The three of them had formed quite a friendship, and Johnny was surprisingly grateful that the tutoring group had forced him to recognise that the three of them had great chemistry together.

The second strange thing was that Jaehyun and Doyoung seemed to have started learning Chinese. It sort of made sense for Jaehyun – five of his six tutees had either Mandarin or Cantonese as a first language, and they’d made a group chat within half an hour of their groups being assigned so it followed that he’d be picking up words here and there in conversation. But to Johnny, it looked like it was more than that: the couple had taken to spending much of their free time on double dates. Sicheng and Yuta, Jungwoo and Yukhei, even occasionally with Xiaojun and Hendery. A few times a week now, Johnny would re-enter his apartment to find one (at least half Chinese) couple sitting on one of their couches with a plate of something Doyoung had cooked in their hands. He’d also seen them hanging around with Renjun more often – he knew Doyoung had practically adopted Renjun’s friend and seemingly the only Korean sophomore in their entire university with a modicum of chill, Jeno, while the younger man was still a freshman, but now Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun could be found as much with Doyoung and Jaehyun as they could with their usual gang of sophomores and freshmen. It seemed that the creation of their study group had brought together several of the more disparate friend groups on campus and blurred the lines between gangs in ways that Johnny really hadn’t seen coming.

The third, and in Johnny’s opinion _most_ , strange thing was that he and Ten had actually…become friends. Despite the fact that Ten hadn’t really stopped flirting with him every time they so much as breathed the same air, Johnny found that he really…enjoyed being around the younger man.

It had started accidentally – Johnny had been in one of the music practice rooms, working on his composition for one of his classes. It was only supposed to be a short piece, something to show his recent progress to the professor, but it had sort of gotten away from him and now he was surrounded by sheet music with no clue how to pair it down into something he could actually submit. When he heard the door opening he raised his head, ready to either tell whoever had dared to enter his sacred den that _actually_ he had the room reserved for another hour or thank Taeil for coming with coffee and commiseration (which had become a fairly common occurrence in the past week or so), and was surprised when the head that poked around the door was Ten’s.

“Hey! I was looking for Kun, but I saw you looking close to collapsing so I thought I’d check on you.” The younger man was wearing adorable glasses and a loose-fitting black shirt today, and Johnny let his eyes drift appreciatively down Ten’s body before his brain reminded him that he should probably say something.

“Aha, thanks. I’m mostly good, just…struggling a little with this composition. There’s too much going on.” Johnny ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back off his forehead before it flopped back down into his eyes.

“Anything I can do to help?” Ten asked, and when Johnny looked back up at him the brunette had slipped inside the room and closed the door.

He frowned. “Didn’t you say you were looking for Kun?”

Ten shrugged and flashed him a smile. “He’ll be fine without me.”

Johnny returned the grin, then looked back down at his sheets. “I just can’t pick out what the core of the sound is. I added too many layers and now I can’t find the song again.”

Ten made a soft noise of understanding, then picked up and rifled through a few of the discarded sheets scattering the floor around the piano. His eyes flickered over the notes for a moment, and Johnny took a few seconds to drink in the sight of Ten when he wasn’t determined to flirt Johnny into a coma.

His jaw was sharp, eyelashes so long they brushed the lenses of his glasses, lips pouting softly in thought. Johnny had always known that Ten was hot, because Ten carried himself in a way that told the world that he _knew_ he was hot, but in that moment it had struck him that Ten was _beautiful._ Not just because of his face, but because of how expressive he was. He lived with his emotions plain on his face, whether he was thinking or teasing.

 _Which means you’d know if he actually liked you the way you liked him,_ Johnny’s brain offered unhelpfully, and he squashed the thought down into the back of his mind.

Ten hummed gently, then arranged a few of the sheets onto the music holder on the front of the piano and lightly nudged Johnny’s arm to force him to make space on the bench. Ten was so slight that Johnny didn’t have to move much for Ten to sit beside him, and the American flushed at the sudden reminder of their difference in size.

“Maybe if you just picked out this part…” Ten said, and began to play.

His fingers moved carefully over the keys, eyes flicking rapidly between the sheet and the ivories. Johnny sucked in a quiet breath as Ten played a few lines of the piece, ignoring some of the denser parts of the melody and instead focusing on the rhythm of the notes. Johnny was so caught up in the sound of the piano that it took him a second to notice that Ten had started humming part of the harmony he had written but shifted around slightly to compensate for the removal of the melody’s complexities.

After about a minute, Ten stopped, and Johnny just looked at him in silence for a few moments, feeling the thudding of his heart in his chest and wondering if it was loud enough to hear.

“Ah, sorry, I shouldn’t have messed around with it so much…” Ten went to pull his fingers away from the keys, looking more flustered than Johnny had ever seen him, but suddenly there were long fingers catching around his much smaller hands and he looked up sharply.

“No, it was perfect. I…didn’t know you could play.” Johnny’s voice came out breathier than he was intending.

Ten laughed softly. “There are many things you don’t know about me, Johnny Suh.”

Johnny forced himself to meet Ten’s eyes for a moment, trying to cling to that hint of sincerity for as long as possible, before Ten slipped away again back into thinly veiled innuendo and flirtation. “I’d like to. Know those things about you, I mean.”

Ten’s gaze was soft, searching, tracing the lines of Johnny’s face with his eyes as if he was looking for something.

Then Ten’s phone chimed loudly and the moment was gone, both of them quickly pulling their hands away from the other as if they’d been burned.

“Ah, it’s Kun, I should probably go before he has a heart attack.” Ten stood abruptly, hurrying over to the door. Before he stepped through, he turned back to shoot Johnny a genuine smile. “I hope that helped a little.”

Johnny’s reply of “You did,” didn’t come until long after the door had closed.

~

It had been about a week after the music room incident that they’d crossed the border from casual flirting acquaintances to full-on friends.

Johnny had been sat in the library; books spread out haphazardly across the table as he valiantly struggled to write his English literature essay. It was currently not going very well, which could be seen from the three empty coffee cups that sat either side of his laptop.

Since he was sat on the first floor of the library, which allowed quiet conversation amongst its patrons, he was only a little surprised to hear a voice muttering beside him.

“I hate essays so much. I’m a dance major. I communicate with my body, not _words._ ” Ten said, dropping his books onto the table with a loud ‘bang’ which drew glares from nearby harried-looking students.

Johnny chuckled quietly. “You can speak five languages, Ten, I’m sure you’re fine with a few essays.”

Ten sighed dramatically, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. “Just because I can _speak_ a bunch of languages doesn’t mean I want to write in them. Especially not pointless things like what inspired the choreography for my solo piece.”

“How long have you been in here already? No offence, but you look dead on your feet.” Johnny asked, taking in the bags under Ten’s eyes and the fact that his skin was lacking its usual lustre.

“I prefer to think of it as the sexy, hungry vampire look.”

Johnny raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Don’t avoid the question.”

Ten looked down at his notes. “In the library? Only about four hours, but I spent twelve hours locked in the practice room yesterday working on choreography for the showcase at the end of the semester with Taeyong-hyung and Sichengie.”

Johnny looked at him for a moment, before slamming his laptop shut (which attracted another round of glares from nearby students) and shoving them into his backpack. Ten stared at him, momentarily confused.

“Come on. Pack up your stuff, we’re going to get some fresh air and some food before you collapse in on yourself.” Johnny said, putting on a confident air to mask the way his heart was trying to beat out of his chest.

Ten stayed sat in his chair for a moment, staring up at Johnny in bemusement for just long enough that Johnny’s courage began to falter. He was a few seconds away from striding out of the room and throwing himself into the nearest ocean before Ten laughed incredulously and put his books into his bag. “Ok, hyung. Lead the way.”

They ended up, thirty minutes later, sat on a bench in a nearby park with a box of fried chicken, a green tea for Ten and an Americano for Johnny. It was a chill evening in October, and the hot drinks and food were perfect for warming their chilled hands as they ate quietly watching the sun dip below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold.

When the box was empty, Ten stretched his arms and made a noise of satisfaction, like a cat waking from a nap. “You know hyung, that was a good idea. I needed to get out.”

“I have good ideas occasionally. It’s a gift.” Johnny grinned, elbowing Ten’s side lightly.

“One of your many hidden talents?” Ten teased.

Johnny laughed. “I don’t hide my talents, because unlike some people I’m not trying to pretend I’m mysterious.”

“I am mysterious!” Ten said, pouting. “It’s part of my charm. No one knows anything about me.”

“Let’s see…you’re a Pisces, you love chocolate, you play the piano and the guitar, you’re a dance major, you love cats, you drink far more coffee than is reasonable for someone your size, you have a little sister you would die for…I think that’s plenty to start with.” Johnny reeled off, counting out the facts on his fingers as he went.

Ten blinked at him. “You remembered all that?”

“It’s like, five pieces of information, Ten. It’s not a lot to remember.” Johnny levelled him with an uncharacteristically serious look. “I told you, I want to get to know you better. That wasn’t a joke. I want us to be…friends.”

Ten looked away for a moment, his eyes focusing on the trees opposite their bench, following the gentle movement of the leaves in the wind. Then he turned to Johnny, a warm and genuine smile on his lips. “Friends sounds good. I’d like that a lot.”

Johnny nodded, and grinned widely in response. “So, since we’re officially friends now, do you want to be a good dongsaeng and go throw away our trash?”

Ten gasped and pressed a hand to his chest, an expression of hurt on his face. “Is that the only reason you wanted to be friends? So you’d have someone to do your bidding?”

Johnny laughed, winking at Ten. “You caught me. Fine, rock paper scissors to decide?”

Ten held up his fist. “You’re going down.”

It took three attempts before a winner was decided, but eventually Johnny let out a cry as Ten played rock against his scissors. The taller man solemnly collected up their rubbish and carried it over to the bin as if it was his lifelong duty.

“See, a good hyung taking care of his dongsaeng. _That’s_ what friendship is about.” Ten said, leaning back on his hands and smirking teasingly up at Johnny.

And if his heart stuttered in his chest at that expression? Only Johnny had to know.

~

They’d been doing their twice-weekly tutoring sessions for a month and a half now, and it was going surprisingly well for everyone involved. They’d all come to know each other quite well, working more and more as a full group rather than dividing off into their smaller gatherings. Everyone had improved significantly, conversing in English more and more often both inside and outside of the classroom.

And now, Johnny found himself sat around a table at a nearby Thai restaurant with Mark, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Ten, talking about coffee and their memories of school and laughing like they’d all grown up together.

It was…nice, Johnny decided, having this kind of relationship with Ten. Their friendship had only been going from strength to strength – they’d been spending more time just the two of them, but also hanging out with each other’s friends.

The constant flirting had eased off to the occasional comment, though the level of innuendo hadn’t changed and Johnny was starting to think that some of it wasn’t intentional and that although Ten already spoke English fluently some of the nuances of their slang were completely lost on him.

“All I’m saying is that just because you used to undo buttons on your uniform shirt, doesn’t mean you were cooler than I was at school!” Mark’s tone was defensive as Ten and Jaehyun laughed at the youngest’s indignation. They had somehow ended up on the topic of their days in high school, and Ten, Jaehyun, and Johnny’s casual disregard for uniform rules.

“Just admit it – we were the cool kids and you two were definitely nerds.” Jaehyun said, grinning and throwing an arm around both Ten and Johnny’s shoulders.

Doyoung pouted, shuffling closer to Mark and giving Jaehyun an unimpressed look. “Just because I was smart doesn’t mean I wasn’t cool. I just appreciated rules.”

“Sometimes you just have to break the rules, Doyoung-ah.” Ten grinned.

“If you’re the cool kid who breaks the rules then why are you always five minutes early to every class we’ve ever had together?” Doyoung teased back.

Ten flustered slightly and waved his hand. “You can be cool and still respect the teachers.”

“You know, Ten, Taeyong always says that whenever he’s had classes with you, you’re always very polite to your teachers and elders.” Johnny grinned, leaning forwards onto the table and peering at Ten’s rapidly reddening face around Jaehyun.

“I’m always polite, Johnny- _hyung_.” Ten shot back, putting emphasis on the honourific as he stuck his tongue out.

“Weren’t you calling me seongsaengnim the other day?”

“Only because you looked like one more incident with the babies and you were going to pass out. You looked like you needed the confidence boost.”

“Ah, so you care about my wellbeing?”

“Since your continued existence means extra credit in my English class, yes.”

Doyoung frowned. “Slow down when you’re talking in English! I can’t keep up.”

Jaehyun reached over the table and patted Doyoung’s hand comfortingly, switching back to Korean. “Don’t worry, they’re just flirting again so you’re not missing much.”

Both Johnny and Ten’s mouths snapped shut and they turned to glare at Jaehyun, looking a little flushed.

Mark’s loud barking laugh cut through the atmosphere and everyone relaxed slightly. “Bro, you got them! I’ve never heard anyone make Ten-hyung be quiet so quickly.”

“You ought to think about what you’re saying, Markie, unless you want to get on my bad side. Maybe I should take Donghyuckie out for coffee, it’s been ages since we’ve had a catch-up.” Ten said, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered across his face as he looked at Mark as if challenging him. Mark, for his part, went deathly pale and immediately stopped laughing.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at him. “I take that silence to mean that things aren’t…progressing?”

Mark laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Bro…progressing? There’s nothing to progress! He’s my best bro, there’s nothing more that needs to progress than that. What are you even talking about, dude?”

Johnny sighed but decided to let the subject drop.

“Speaking of people who are obviously crushing but refusing to do anything about it-“ Ten said, ignoring Mark’s offended ‘hey!’, “What are we going to do about Kun and Taeyong?”

Johnny blinked at him. “What about Kun and Taeyong?"

Ten rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath in Thai, then looked at Johnny in such a way that Johnny immediately felt like a very stupid schoolchild having their teacher explain something to them very slowly so as to be sure it’s understood.

“Kun-ah and Taeyong-hyung are clearly interested in each other romantically, and both of them are cowards so neither of them will do anything about it.” Ten spoke in Korean to ensure that everyone at the table understood perfectly.

Doyoung nodded. “It’s true. Kun-ah and I have been friends since we were freshmen, and I’ve never seen him act around anyone the way he acts around Taeyong-hyung.”

Mark rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Chenle was saying the other day that Kun-hyung has been more easily flustered lately, and he didn’t even yell at us when we accidentally put too much salt into the food he was making the other day. Usually he’d complain about us not respecting him for at least 20 minutes.”

“And thinking about it, Taeyong-ah has been seeming less stressed out by his duties as a single father.” Johnny said thoughtfully, tapping a finger against his chin.

Ten nodded. “Since I know both of them the best, I can tell – they might like each other but neither of them would want to burden the other with their feelings. Plus, they’re both so busy with their studies and their kids that they’d never think to put themselves first. So we have to do something about it.”

“Ok, so, like, what do we do?” Mark leaned in, looking at Ten as if he were about to bestow the secrets of the universe on him.

“Listen in, young ones, you have much to learn…”

“Only Mark is younger than you.”

“Shut up Doyoungie, it’s for the drama.”

~

The plan, when you got down to it, was actually pretty simple. Kun and Taeyong were to be invited separately to a small group outing, forced into proximity with each other, at which point the others would scatter and leave them to bond.

Ten had invited Kun, with the promise that Sicheng would be there and that his six adopted children would cope without him for the night. It had taken a lot of convincing, and a promise from Jungwoo that he and Yukhei would be hanging out with the others and would call Kun immediately if something were to go horribly wrong, but eventually he had been persuaded to abandon his usual plans of cooking for a rotating cast of starving students in favour of going out for dinner at a new family-owned Chinese restaurant that had opened up not far from campus. Ten had then spent an hour persuading an increasingly suspicious Kun to wear the most skin-tight pants he owned (a purchase that had been entirely the fault of Ten’s extended bullying campaign, turning even Xiaojun, the gentlest of his adopted children, to his side) and a half-open, loose and flowing shirt.

“Ten, I really don’t think this is necessary for going to a restaurant with Sicheng and Yuta.” Kun complained as Ten forced him into a chair and pressed dark eyeshadow into the corners of his eyes.

“Can I be blamed for wanting my best friend to look hot when we leave the house together?” Ten said airily, ignoring the sounds of protest from Kun as he jabbed his face with various brushes and powders.

“You never care how I look. You said last week that you’re glad I dress like a sad old man because it makes you look hotter.” Kun replied.

Ten shrugged. “Maybe I’m just tired of having all the attention on me.”

Kun snorted. “Maybe you just don’t care because Johnny won’t be there.”

A more aggressive jab of the brush elicited a noise of protest and pain from Kun. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Kun raised his eyebrow as Ten put down the makeup tools and picked up a tub of hair product. “I mean you’re being about as obvious about having feelings for him as you ever get. Maybe if you stopped trying to be ‘sexy’ for him, he’d actually notice that you want more than just his dick.”

Ten’s hands found their way into Kun’s hair, pulling slightly as he distributed the product. It was entirely necessary and definitely not retribution for being forced to talk about his emotions. “He’s just hot and easily flustered. We’re friends, I don’t have feelings for him.”

Kun rolled his eyes, wincing slightly at the pain in his scalp. “If you keep pretending that you don’t have feelings, maybe one day you’ll actually convince yourself. Or you could just ask Johnny out on a date like a regular human being.”

Ten sighed, wiping the left-over product on a tissue and sitting down on the bed. Kun turned on the stool in front of the desk and levelled him with his patented Dad Stare™. “I’m serious, Ten. You deserve to be with someone that you like and that likes you. You should give him the opportunity to know that side of you, rather than keeping your emotional distance by pretending you’re just flirting for the sake of it.”

“I…I’m trying. We’re actually friends now, we hang out a lot and he already knows more about me than most people ever get to.” Ten flushed slightly, avoiding Kun’s eyes. “But I’m sure he knew my reputation before we got to know each other properly. Why would someone like him want to date the campus slut?” He laughed softly, and Kun caught his hand and moved to sit next to him on the bed.

“You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that. So what if you’ve had a lot of partners? It doesn’t make you less of a person, and it doesn’t make you less worthy of him. If he did think that way, he wouldn’t deserve you anyway. But from what I know of Johnny, I don’t think he would. You can’t decide what he wants without talking to him first.”

Ten cracked a smile, turning to look at Kun properly. “Why are you so wise? You’re really just a 60-year-old man stuck in a 21-year-old body, aren’t you?”

“Yah, I’m being nice and giving you good advice! Why do you always have to be so disrespectful?” Kun shoved at Ten’s side and the smaller man grinned as he put out a hand to stop himself from falling off the bed.

He squeezed the hand that was still holding Kun’s in a silent ‘thank-you’, before he pushed himself off the bed with a very resolute expression and pulled Kun with him. “Come on old man, let’s go and get dinner before we go beyond fashionably late and become just late.”

~

Because of who Kun was as a person, he and Ten were still at the restaurant 5 minutes before the others arrived, and the very tired but polite waitress led them to their pre-booked table. Kun frowned as they reached it, quickly realising that there were six chairs rather than the four he was expecting.

“Ten? Who else is coming tonight that you failed to mention?” Kun asked, turning to glower at his shorter companion. Ten opened his mouth to speak, then spotted the approaching figures over Kun’s shoulder and instead just grinned.

“Ah, hyungs and Sichengie! I’m glad you got here on time, otherwise I’d be stuck making conversation with Grandpa Kun until you arrived to save me.”

“You say that like you don’t spend all the time you’re not with us with him anyway.”

Kun froze. What had been a glower in Ten’s general direction turned to a soul-vaporising glare as Taeyong approached their table.

“Good to see you again, Kun-ah.” Taeyong said, smile wide and inviting as he pulled out the chair opposite Kun.

“You too, Taeyong-ssi.” Kun said, and Ten did his best not to laugh at the way the tips of Kun’s ears had gone red.

Taeyong clicked his tongue. “Yah, I told you, just call me hyung. We’re close enough for that, aren’t we?”

Kun’s hurried nod would have made Ten lose his already tenuous grip on his self-control if it hadn’t been for the arrival of Johnny, Sicheng, and Yuta, who greeted the already-seated trio as they took their own seats.

“I’ve heard such good things about this place, and it’s really nice to get out for once. You know, do something fun.” Taeyong said, smiling as the group began to flip through the menu, mouths already watering at the prospect of all the delicious-sounding dishes on offer.

Yuta looked sidelong at Taeyong. “Why do you talk like you’re a middle-aged mother whose husband never takes her out anymore? We do fun stuff all the time.”

“Babysitting you and Ten at clubs and frat parties is not _fun,_ Yuta. It’s you two dancing and enjoying yourselves while I make sure you don’t break too many things or hurt yourselves falling over since somehow both of you lose your entire sense of balance when you’re drunk, despite being athletes.” Taeyong replied, flicking Yuta lightly on the forehead. Yuta didn’t seem apologetic or even slightly chastised by Taeyong’s comment, instead grinning widely at Ten.

“We should go out again soon, it’s been a while. Sichengie, you promised you’d come dancing with us so I can show off that I’m dating the best dancer on campus.” Yuta turned to look at his boyfriend, and it was clear to anyone looking that Sicheng was fighting between disgust at the idea of attending a social gathering and heart-melting softness at how sweet Yuta could be.

Ten and Taeyong, for their parts, were looking at him, expressions of mock offence clear on their faces.

“I can’t believe you would say something like that when all three of your favourite dancers are literally sat with you right now.” Ten said, pouting at Yuta.

Yuta flattened his smile into his typical expression, what Taeyong liked to call his ‘resting judgement face’. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Kun-ah, Johnny-yah, I’m sorry for comparing you to my godlike boyfriend.”

After the following outburst of laughter from the table, the waitress made her way over to take their orders. Sicheng ordered in Mandarin for both himself and Yuta, as Yuta gazed at him with an adoring expression, Johnny and Ten decided to split a sharing meal (and Ten resolutely ignored the pointed look Kun shot his way), and Taeyong looked up from his menu to catch Kun’s eye.

“What do you recommend, Kun-ah? I don’t know what might be good.”

The tips of Kun’s ears flared red as he leant forward to point at the menu. “Well, I was going to get the sweet and sour pork ribs. They’re always good.”

Taeyong smiled at him, then looked up at the waitress. “I’ll have that too, then. I trust your recommendation.” The last part was directed at Kun, who gave Taeyong a shy smile of his own.

Ten and Yuta made eye contact across the table and grinned at each other, noting the way that Taeyong’s eyes drifted down to Kun’s dimples before his own ears began to redden.

As the food was served, conversation died down while the six of them tucked into the delicious array. Yuta and Sicheng finished their food quickly, then looked furtively at Ten who gave a little nod.

“Ah, sorry hyungs, I’m feeling really tired today after rehearsals, and Yuta has a game this weekend so we should really head home and get some rest.” Sicheng said, standing and putting on his coat quickly while Yuta dropped some money on to the table.

“Ah, are you alright, Sichengie?” Taeyong asked, forehead crinkling with concern.

“Don’t worry Taeyong-ah, I’ll make sure he gets plenty of rest.” Yuta said, winking lasciviously and relishing in the exasperated noises he received from both Taeyong and Kun before he ushered Sicheng out of the restaurant.

A few moments later, Ten dropped his chopsticks and let out a dramatic gasp as they clattered against the wood of the table. “I just remembered, I left my essay in the practice room, I need to go get it!”

Kun looked at him, worried. “Do you need to get it right now? You shouldn’t walk about on your own this late.”

Ten nodded, quickly putting some cash down as he gathered up his things. “I have to hand it in first thing tomorrow, it’s really important.”

“I’ll go with you then,” Kun began, reaching for his wallet, but Johnny panicked and put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“No!” The American said, drawing confused looks from both Kun and Taeyong at the voracity of his outburst. “I mean, it’s fine, I’ll go with him.”

Kun gave Johnny a calculating look, then looked up at Ten, before smiling and dropping his wallet back into his pocket. “Alright then. You two have fun.”

Ten gave Johnny a grateful look as the two hurried out of the restaurant and turned towards the campus, since Kun was clearly watching them through the front window.

“Let’s just walk this way a little bit, then I’ll just…head back to the apartment, I guess.” Ten said, pulling his jacket tighter around himself in an attempt to keep out the chill.

Johnny shrugged, looking down at Ten with sheepish grin. “I mean, I’m not busy. If you wanna like…keep hanging out, or something. We skipped dessert at the restaurant, and there’s one of those 24-hour places nearby.”

Ten bit his lower lip, then looked up at Johnny with a smile. “Yeah, that sounds good. I hope the desserts are as sweet as you, hyung.”

Johnny rolled his eyes and laughed, leading Ten through the streets towards their destination. It was completely dead, since it was 10pm on a Thursday and most people had either gone home or weren’t out yet, so the pair were seated immediately by the only member of staff on the floor, a single exhausted looking server who gave them both a tired smile and told them to come up to the front to order when they were ready.

Ten hummed indecisively as he looked over the menu. “It all looks so tasty; I don’t even know what to try!”

“How about you let me pick for you? See if I can guess your tastes right, since you’ve finally started telling me things about yourself.” Johnny suggested, and Ten fluttered his eyelashes coyly.

“I see what you’re up to. Are you trying to impress me by pandering to my love of chocolate?” Ten asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on his palm.

Summoning up every little bit of his courage, Johnny met Ten’s eyes with a teasing grin. “And if I was trying to impress you, would it be working?”

Ten, for once in his life, was left speechless, a pink blush creeping up his cheeks. He maintained eye contact with Johnny for a moment, then tossed his head and fluffed his hair, seeming to come back to himself. “Well, I suppose we’ll see how impressed I am by what you pick.”

Johnny laughed and pushed himself up from his chair. “Just trust me, Ten-ah.” He walked over to the counter, placing the order and speaking to the server quietly enough that despite his attempts to strain his ears, Ten couldn’t catch what he was saying. Oh well, sometimes surprises are a good thing.

Johnny returned to the table quickly, Ten immediately striking up a conversation about a new piece of choreography he and Taeyong were working on for a showcase which Johnny was particularly interested in, in part because Taeyong and Ten had begged to use the music that he, Kun, and Taeil had worked on together for one of their few shared music classes. Something to do with their teacher being really into collaborative student pieces and Taeyong saying he found their music inspiring.

Johnny was only human, and no one could say no to Taeyong when he really, really wanted something. It was good for everyone involved that Taeyong didn’t use his powers often, and when he did he used them mostly for good.

Johnny leaned in towards Ten, listening to him talk passionately about his dancing with a soft, sappy smile on his lips. He made a point to throw in the occasional dad joke and make fun of Ten for being so soft on Taeyong from time to time, but really he could have just sat and listened to him talk for hours. It was one of the things he loved most about Ten; how much he cared about his dance, how open and happy he looked when talking about something so passionately. His whole face lit up and he was so breath-taking –

_Wait, love?_

Johnny’s brain tripped over itself, realising that he’d just admitted to himself that he was in love with Ten. Well, as close as you can be to love without having actually tried out the whole dating thing. And in that moment, Johnny knew he had to tell Ten. Had to get his feelings out in the open air, because he could cope with having a crush on Ten before when he was unattainable and uninterested in Johnny beyond his looks, could cope with having Unnamed Feelings™ and wanting to hold Ten’s hand really badly while they were becoming proper friends, but he couldn’t force himself to pretend that he wasn’t totally head-over-heels when he’d finally used the l-word himself.

Johnny’s mouth opened, and he wasn’t sure what words were about to escape but he knew he had to say something –

And then the server walked over with their desserts, placing the small stack of pancakes in front of Johnny and carefully putting Ten’s food in front of him.

Johnny watched as Ten looked at the plate for a moment, staring way too intensely for the fact that it was just a chocolate chip brownie even if it _was_ a really tasty looking one. Perfectly square, oozing with hot fudge sauce, a little dollop of whipped cream on top and a strawberry sitting in the centre. Ten stayed silent, still just looking at the food, and in a desperate attempt to break the weird tension that had suddenly settled around them Johnny reached across the table and plucked the strawberry off the top of the cream, popping it into his mouth as Ten’s head snapped up. Johnny froze, strawberry half in his mouth, pinned in place by the force of Ten’s dark-eyed stare.

“I know you don’t like fruit so-” Johnny mumbled around the mouthful of strawberry.

“I really like you.”

Record scratch.

Freezeframe.

“…What?” Johnny asked, eyes wide and mouth falling open slightly to reveal the half-chewed strawberry. Ten didn’t even look slightly phased.

“I really like you, Johnny-hyung. Like…I have feelings for you. Romantic feelings. And I’m sorry if you don’t feel the same and I’ve just made everything super awkward, but I couldn’t go another day not saying it. I really want to go on a date with you, a proper date. If you don’t want me…I understand. I just need to know.” Ten spoke so fast it seemed almost like he wasn’t breathing, the words tripping over each other in their haste to get out of his mouth and into Johnny’s ears.

Johnny stared in silence for approximately five seconds before Ten stood abruptly, pushing his chair back from the table and stepping away in panic. “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I’m gonna go, I’m so _stupid_ -“ and suddenly Johnny was on his feet, grabbing Ten’s arm as he tried to turn away.

“No, wait, don’t go!” Johnny took a deep breath, let the warmth brought on by Ten’s confession pulse through his body, and stepped closer. “Don’t run out on our first date before I get a chance to tell you how I feel about you.”

Ten spun around, eyes searching Johnny’s face for any trace of a lie, looking up at him with a confusing mix of hope and fear, and Johnny couldn’t stop his hand as it lifted to gently touch Ten’s cheek.

“I really, really like you Ten. I have since I met you, and I’ve only grown to like you more and more the longer I’ve known you. You’re so passionate and full of fire, you’re fiercely intelligent and so funny and mean but you love your friends so much that you’d set up a whole dinner just to force them to spend time together. I want you so much, I want _this._ So please…stay and have dessert?”

Ten’s face had shifted throughout his speech, flushing red and smiling wide and eyes full of tears. “You’re such a sap, you big goofball, of course I’ll stay.”

And suddenly Johnny had an armful of Ten and there was a face buried in his chest and in the background, someone was clapping. It took the pair of them a moment to realise that it was the server, the only other person in the room with them. When they looked over, Ten brushing hurriedly at his cheeks, the guy gave them a big smile and a thumbs up.

“You guys are super cute together. Congrats!”

Realising they’d just had their heartfelt confession of mutual romantic feelings very loudly in front of a complete stranger, both of them blushed, laughed, and sat back down to finish their food.

There wasn’t that much of a change, really – Ten still flirted and made Johnny laugh with his thinly-veiled sexual comments, Johnny still made bad jokes and laughed too loud and flustered Ten by saying nice things – but the atmosphere was lighter, happier, filled with the butterflies of a first date and the comfortable warmth of two people just genuinely enjoying each other’s company.

After they ate and paid (Johnny took the bill and Ten didn’t resist, smiling wide and leaning into Johnny’s side as they stood at the counter), Johnny insisted on walking Ten back to the apartment he shared with Kun. When Ten rubbed the tops of his arms to keep the chill away, Johnny peeled off one of his outer layers – a large denim jacket – and draped it over Ten’s shoulders. It completely swamped him, but Ten made a pleased little noise and pulled it tighter around him, rubbing his cheek against the wear-softened collar. Johnny felt his heart melt a little in his chest and he reached out to twine his long fingers around Ten’s much smaller ones.

When they got back to the building Ten lived in, Johnny walked him up to his door and leant against the wall as Ten went to hand back the jacket.

“Hold on to it, if you want. It looks cute on you.” He said, smile so wide his eyes curved up.

Ten posed a little, twisting from side to side. “It does, doesn’t it?” The smaller man paused, then looked up at Johnny. “Did you mean what you said, about that being our first date?”

Johnny nodded. “I want it to be, if you’re ok with that.”

“More than ok with it. And since that was our first date…” Ten trailed off, stepping closer to Johnny and stretching up on tiptoes to gently press his lips against the elder’s. The kiss was tentative, chaste, and Ten tasted of chocolate and sugar and Chapstick and something else, something that was just Ten, and then the younger was pulling back with a wide smile carved into his face.

“Be my boyfriend.” Johnny blurted, unable to stop the words from bubbling out of his throat as his hands moved to rest lightly on Ten’s waist.

“You really think you could stop me?” Ten laughed, his hands coming up to hold onto the lapels of Johnny’s open shirt. “Yes, Johnny Suh, I will be your boyfriend.”

And if they were still stood there, trading kisses and giggles in front of the door as they held on to each other like their lives depended on it half an hour later when Kun returned, smiling even as he sighed and complained that he needed to get inside and go to bed?

Well, that was for them to know.


	2. In which Taeyong learns the joys of co-parenting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny and Ten may have gotten their shit together, but Kun and Taeyong have a long way to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i write this chapter as an excuse to have 13,000 words of everyone gushing over Kun because i adore him???? yes and what of it????
> 
> i hope yall enjoy 
> 
> we need more kunyong content

The first time Taeyong heard about Kun, he had been in the kitchen of the apartment he shared with Yuta and Sicheng, cooking enough dinner to feed the small horde of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen that seemed to accumulate in their living room around dinner time at least once a week. Chenle had been trying to sneak a piece of chicken out from the bowl of soup Taeyong was preparing, and in response Taeyong had whacked Chenle’s hand with the back of the ladle he’d been holding.

“Ow!” Chenle exclaimed, pulling his hand back and pouting at Taeyong. “Hyung, that hurt.”

“Don’t put your hands in my cooking before it’s ready and I won’t hit you. Simple.” Taeyong replied, not looking up from where he was filling plates and bowls. He was weak for Chenle’s pout, and the only way to avoid falling victim to the freshman’s charms was to not look at him at all.

Chenle sighed dramatically, spinning away and leaning against the kitchen island. Taeyong and Yuta had managed to rent a pretty great place, cheaper than most ones of similar size due to the fact that its owner was a friend of Taeyong’s father who had given them a great deal. Things were made even more affordable when Sicheng had moved in with them after spending a year in a campus dorm slowly losing his mind over the mess and noise (and also the fact that he and Yuta couldn’t have sex without Jaehyun, at the time Sicheng’s dormmate, complaining about the noise and banging on their shared wall). The bedrooms, which were fairly small, were compensated for by the huge open-plan kitchen and living room which allowed Taeyong to play host to his ever-growing collection of stray children.

“Chinese Dad would never treat me like this.” Chenle said, the tone of his voice giving away the fact that he was still clearly pouting.

Taeyong frowned. “Chinese Dad?”

“Yeah, you’re Korean Dad, and then there’s Chinese Dad.” Chenle spoke with such a matter-of-fact tone that Taeyong finally looked up from the food, confusion clear on his face.

Renjun appeared next to him, scaring the crap out of him as he so often did. “Did Chenle finally tell you about Chinese Dad?”

“Who on earth is Chinese Dad? I thought I was your college parental figure.” Taeyong said, mildly offended.

Renjun levelled him with the look of a teenager exhausted by how out-of-touch their parents were, and Taeyong could practically feel the hairs on his head greying. “Where do you think we are when we’re not eating with you?”

“Um, in your own dorms and apartments? Feeding yourselves like regular adults?”

Chenle had the audacity to laugh. “Come on, hyung, you should know us better than that by now.”

At that moment, Donghyuck had come running into the kitchen to claim his food and caused a domino effect of hungry almost-adults inhaling their food, and the topic was dropped. However, it wasn’t the last time Taeyong heard about this mysterious ‘Chinese Dad’. It was just Chenle and Renjun mentioning him at first, then Jeno and Jaemin began talking about going to visit ‘Chinese Dad’ with the others, and even Mark and Donghyuck seemed to have met the guy. And then one day Renjun brought over a new stray, a Chinese kid from Germany called Yangyang, and suddenly mentions of ‘Chinese Dad’ were unavoidable.

When Ten and the kids were over at the same time, Ten would get this knowing little smirk on his face whenever the mysterious man came up in conversation, but wouldn’t say anything no matter how much Taeyong pestered him for information. He refused to believe that Ten didn’t know who the kids were talking about, since he knew seemingly every person on campus, but the younger man would give nothing away.

It wasn’t that Taeyong was jealous – if anything, he was grateful that someone else was keeping an eye on the chaotic bunch when he wasn’t around to control them – he was mostly just curious. He wanted to know more about the guy, beyond the fact that he was a really good cook and was Chinese.

Maybe they could swap parenting tips and prevent each other from going prematurely grey.

Not long after mentions of the other campus parent had become almost constant, Taeyong’s English teacher had mentioned a student tutoring group that would supposedly help him with his English. He had signed up immediately and forced both Yuta and Ten to sign up with him. He was doing fine with his English, but he’d never been particularly confident with it, and he’d heard that one of the tutors was Johnny Suh who was really nice and fluent in both English and Korean, even if he was a little awkward, so Taeyong knew he’d be in safe hands.

When, during the first session, Taeyong had heard the cute blue-haired guy that Ten had brought to the group with him mention his ‘children’ Chenle and Yangyang, he’d been excited that he’d finally found the face and the name to put to the mysterious moniker of ‘Chinese Dad’. It didn’t hurt at all that the guy, Kun, was handsome and – oh my god, were those dimples when he smiled shyly at Taeyong’s questions?

Uh oh.

After that first session, Taeyong had dragged Ten to the café on campus to get some answers.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Chinese Dad was your cute roommate?” Taeyong whined into his iced Americano, head full of images of Kun and his cute little smile.

Ten grinned and shrugged. “I knew you’d find out eventually. And I didn’t want to miss out on seeing your face when you saw him for the first time. If I’d told you, it would have taken all of the mystery out of it. You would have seen him on my Instagram if you weren’t a grandpa who refuses to use social media.”

Taeyong sniffed indignantly. “It’s a waste of time. And anyway, I bet your photographs don’t do him any justice.”

That evening Taeyong spent a good thirty minutes scrolling through Ten’s Instagram page, pausing every time one of the pictures showed Kun, cooking or laughing or glaring at Ten for taking a picture when he wasn’t ready.

_Ok, so maybe in this particular case Instagram has its uses._

~

Taeyong was thankful to the English study group for three primary reasons. Firstly, he actually needed help with his English and Johnny made a really good tutor. He’d helped Taeyong make a lot of progress with his conversational English in just a few short weeks, and although he’d always been better at writing English than he had speaking it, his essays had improved too. Besides, there was something comforting and enjoyable about practicing his English with a mixture of native speakers, people who were fluent in it as a second or third language, and people like him who were struggling a little more. 

Secondly, it had given him more time to spend with the friends he already had outside of his apartment which meant he could converse with them without worrying about cooking at the same time (or someone tripping over something precious and breaking either it or themselves), and had introduced him to even more people that he found himself getting along with very well. Though they mostly stuck within their assigned groups for the first few weeks, the time before and after study sessions was often full of chatter. Taeyong was glad for the excuse to spend more time with Johnny and Taeil, fellow seniors that he’d always liked but had never really socialised with, and with his army of adopted adult children.

Thirdly…there was Kun.

Kun was, in a word, adorable. From that first session, Taeyong had realised that he was attractive; that much was obvious from just a cursory glance. But as the weeks went on, and Taeyong found himself spending more and more time around the younger man, he realised that the personality beneath that cute face was just as enticing.

The first time they’d spent any time together independent of the rest of the group was towards the end of their second studying session. As Taeyong had learned over the course of the previous academic year and the first month of his senior year, when more than three of the sophomores and freshmen he had taken in were in one room things tended to escalate very quickly. Case in point: Yangyang, a recent addition to his growing roster of strays, had taken it upon himself to aggravate Donghyuck. Taeyong wasn’t surprised – at least one of the kids was either annoying or being annoyed by Donghyuck at almost all times – but when the pair went racing out of the room and down the corridors of their university’s language department, he thought it was probably time to step in.

Kun had been watching the unfolding situation with a look somewhere between paternal fondness and thorough exhaustion, and had turned to catch Taeyong’s eye as the sound of the door banging against the wall echoed through the room. “It’s one of mine and one of yours. Do you want to go after them or shall I?”

Taeyong spotted the opportunity and, never one to pass up hanging out with a cute boy (a massive lie – Yuta and Ten had spent endless evenings berating him for being a ‘panicked gay’ and just laughing awkwardly at any attempts at romantic interaction from their campus’s extensive LGBTQ+ community), he closed his notebook with a smile. “We could go together? Safety in numbers.”

“Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Kun returned the smile shyly as he stood. Taeyong felt the tell-tale beginnings of his trademark nervous laughter bubbling up as he almost bumped into Kun as they walked out of the room after the rampaging teenagers.

“How far do you think they’ve gotten?” Taeyong asked as the two of them made their way down the corridor. There weren’t many directions the two could have gone, so Taeyong wasn’t particularly worried about missing them.

“That depends. I don’t know Donghyuck that well, but I’ve…heard things. From Renjun, mainly.” Kun replied. “If he’s anything like Renjun seems to imply, Yangyang won’t stop running easily. He’s slippery and hard to catch.”

“Sounds like you know from experience.” Taeyong laughed.

Kun sighed, turning his head slightly to shoot Taeyong a pained expression. “I’ve known Yangyang since he was 12. We were in Scouts together, and I was a Patrol Leader. I’ve been trying to wrangle that kid since I was 15 years old, so I know exactly what he’s like.”

“Always the paternal kind, then?” Taeyong teased, and Kun flushed.

“I guess. Even when I’m not the oldest friend. I’m just…good at looking after people, I suppose. What about you?”

Taeyong shrugged. “I’ve pretty much always been a leadership kind of person. Dance groups, student bodies, my short-lived attempt at leading an underground rap group, you name it. I like taking care of people, it makes me happy, and I kind of freak out when stuff is out of my control, you know? It’s not the healthiest coping mechanism, I admit, but it’s the only one I’ve got.”

Kun laughed at that, just a little chuckle, but Taeyong thought in that moment that he might walk through hellfire just to be able to hear it again. “I don’t think that’s bad at all. It shows that you’ve got a good heart, if taking care of people makes you feel happy.”

Taeyong didn’t really know what to say to that, only giggled awkwardly and flushed. He was saved from having to figure out how to talk to Kun without just yelling ‘you’re cute and I really want to take you on a date’ by the appearance of Yangyang and Donghyuck, who had somehow managed to do a 180 degree turn and were now sprinting back towards the searching pair.

“You stop for a second, Liu, and you’re dead!” Donghyuck yelled, before he caught sight of Taeyong’s unimpressed expression and skidded to a halt beside Yangyang who was grinning at Kun without an ounce of shame.

“Oh, hi hyung! We’re just hanging out, chilling, just two close friends out for a walk.” Donghyuck said, rubbing the back of his head only a little bit awkwardly.

Yangyang slung his arms around Donghyuck’s shoulders, beaming at the older duo remorselessly. “Best buddies, you could say. Isn’t that right, Hyuckie?”

If Donghyuck thought neither of the older men spotted the pinching match going on in front of them, he really needed a reality check.

“I’m sure, since you’re both adults at a good college, you understand that running around indoors is dangerous and threatening to kill each other is inadvisable, even if campus security don’t know that you’re threatening each other when you cuss each other out in Korean.” Taeyong said, folding his arms and levelling the mischievous pair with his most withering, stern look. It had been honed to perfection over many years of being a teenager with more responsibilities than one should have at such a young age, capable of making fully grown adults reconsider their life choices and aim to never get on Taeyong’s bad side again.

Predictably, it had no such effect on Donghyuck and Yangyang.

“And I don’t think I need to remind either of you that Mark is taking time out of his busy schedule voluntarily to help both of you in your classes. You should treat his time with respect, not make his life more difficult and run out in the middle of study sessions.” Kun’s voice was much less stern and far more disappointed, the kind of tone a mother takes when she’s caught her child with their hand in the cookie jar.

Again, neither of the younger men seemed phased.

“Doesn’t that mean you two walked out on Johnny-hyung as well? Yah, that’s not very respectful towards him. He’s working very hard, you know.” Donghyuck tutted, continuing to pinch Yangyang’s arm as they started to walk back towards the classroom.

“Yah, this disrespect! Both of you are grounded.” Kun grumbled, and Taeyong covered his mouth quickly to stop a laugh from escaping. Kun pouted. “You’re supposed to back me up on this, Taeyong-ssi.”

Yangyang slipped his arms down where they were hanging around Donghyuck’s neck to link their arms together. “Hyuckie, did you see that interview Taemin did the other day?” And with that, the pair were off, chattering away like Donghyuck hadn’t been about to bludgeon the younger to death less than two minutes ago.

“I’ll back you up against them, but I don’t think you could physically ground Hyuck-ah if you tried. He’s uncontainable.” Taeyong said, patting Kun on the shoulder comfortingly.

Kun sighed, and Taeyong thought he felt the younger man subconsciously shift a little closer towards him. He tried to ignore the little blossom of warmth that spread through his chest at that.

“They all are. Renjunie has only brought Donghyuck over once, but they spent at least half the night about five seconds away from a full on fist fight. They kept doing this thing, where Donghyuck would do aegyo and say something stupid, and Renjun would just yell and go to smack him. Luckily they brought Jeno over as well, and he managed to stop them from actually beating each other.” Kun looked exhausted just thinking about the memory, and Taeyong laughed.

“That’s a pretty common sight in my apartment too. You should come over some time, for dinner! Like I said before, safety in numbers.”

Kun smiled shyly, and Taeyong couldn’t think of the last time he saw someone so beautiful. “I’d really like that. It sounds fun.”

When they re-entered the classroom, Taeyong made a point to ignore the identical grins on Ten and Yuta’s faces. They were clearly up to something, it definitely involved him in some way, and he absolutely did not want to know until he absolutely had to.

Later, Taeyong would really regret not asking sooner.

~

Qian Kun was, by all considerable definitions of the term, a good person. He worked part time at a cat café and gave discounts to students during finals week, he cooked dinner for any lost soul who turned up at his apartment in need of a hot meal, he helped his classmates and underclassmen with their assignments without needing to be asked, just because he could.

So he didn’t understand _why_ the universe had decided to punish him by giving him Ten and Doyoung, who seemed – in this moment – to be solely interested in making him as miserable as possible.

“Can you _please_ stop eating all that chocolate right in front of me? I’m trying to stick to my diet.” Kun whined, looking at the pair as they continued to watch Netflix on the couch in Kun and Ten’s cramped apartment.

“That sounds like a you problem.” Ten said, not looking away from the screen and putting another square of chocolate in his mouth.

Doyoung turned at Kun with a frown, looking him up and down with an expression that showed he was clearly being assessed.

Doyoung had been close friends with Kun since their freshman year, and despite the fact that it had taken him somewhat longer to warm up to Ten the three of them were by now a solid unit. Although Doyoung was around less now that he was spending so much time with Jaehyun, he always made it to their weekly movie nights, and even outside of those dates all of them sitting piled together on the sofa in a tangle of limbs while watching some cheesy romantic drama was a pretty common sight.

“Why are you on a diet, Kun? You look great as you are.” Doyoung asked, and Kun looked back at the screen without replying. After a moment of silence, Doyoung folded his arms meaningfully and Kun wondered for a moment where Doyoung had developed the uncanny skill of looking exactly like his mother despite sharing none of her features.

Ten narrowed his eyes at Kun contemplatively for a moment, before breaking into a wide grin. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with you trying to get the attention of a particular hot senior in our English study group, would it?”

Kun flushed, and Doyoung looked taken aback momentarily before looking wide-eyed at Kun.

“You have a crush on Taeyong-hyung?” He yelled, a half-chewed mouthful of chocolate disgustingly on display in his open mouth.

“Gross, Doyoungie, I don’t want to see the food while you’re eating it!” Kun covered his eyes quickly as he exclaimed in disgust.

“How did you know I meant Taeyong?” Ten asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you only had eyes for your Jaehyunnie.”

Doyoung ignored the simpering tone Ten’s voice took on when saying his boyfriend’s name. “I’m in a happy relationship, I’m not blind. And it couldn’t be any of the other seniors. Taeil-hyung’s handsome, but I wouldn’t say ‘hot’, you’ve got that whole thing with Johnny-hyung so Kun would feel bad having a crush on him-“ once again, Doyoung ignored Ten and his glare at the mention of Johnny. “And if anyone so much as looked at Yuta-hyung for too long Sicheng would probably stab their eyes out. So obviously you meant Taeyong.” Satisfied that he had sufficiently explained himself, Doyoung levelled Kun with a calculating stare. “Now, answer the question, Qian.”

Kun sighed and threw his head back against the backrest of the sofa, closing his eyes. “Alright, fine, yeah. I have a minor crush. He’s so nice and talented, plus he’s _insanely_ hot. What am I supposed to do, not have a crush on him? It’s not a big deal, I’ll get over it.”

“Why do you have to get over it? Ask him out.” Doyoung replied, and Ten pointed at the black haired man to show his agreement.

“Because he’ll reject me and then our study sessions will be insanely awkward for the next few months? I’d rather let Yangyang and Chenle loose in the kitchen with only Hendery for supervision than deal with that humiliation.” Kun pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on at just the thought.

Ten stared at him. “Why the hell do you think he’d reject you? You’re both nerds who physically cannot stop themselves from mothering anyone in their immediate vicinity. You’re, like, a perfect match.”

“Except for the bit where he’s way more handsome, popular, and talented than I am, and could literally date anyone in this entire university.” Kun replied matter-of-factly.

Doyoung matched Ten’s stare, a slight furrow appearing between his brows. Kun suddenly thought that Doyoung bore a close resemblance to a small, twitching rabbit, but decided against saying anything.

Kun shifted a little awkwardly, unused to being the centre of their attention in such an intense way. “Seriously guys, it’s nothing. It’s just a little crush. It’s not like we spend that much time together anyway.”

Ten pursed his lips in a way that clearly told Kun that he was not convinced, then he shook his head and stuck his pointy elbow into Kun’s ribs. “Fine, I’ll leave you alone for now. Besides, who needs boys when you have terrible straight romantic TV?”

“You do realise we’re all gay men, right Ten?” Doyoung said, looking genuinely confused.

“Shut up, Mr Perfect-Relationship-With-My-Hot-Boyfriend, and watch the awkward heterosexual romance.”

~

When Kun had said that he and Taeyong didn’t spend much time together outside of their English tutoring, he had meant it.

Well, at first.

That had all changed on a Sunday afternoon in October, when Kun had found himself sitting on the floor of one of the university’s empty dance studios. Since the dance programme at their college was so prestigious, there were dozens of well-sized practice rooms with nicely maintained floors and an entire wall of mirrors.

Currently, Ten was taking advantage of the how cool the floor was by lying flat on his back, staring forlornly at the ceiling.

“I don’t have _time_ for boy troubles right now, Kun! I need to finish this choreography, and it doesn’t fit the music right, but all I can think about is how badly I need Johnny’s dick.” Ten whined, rolling onto his front to pout at his long-suffering roommate.

Kun made a disgusted face and tilted his head back. His t-shirt was plastered to his back with sweat, his fringe sticking to his forehead, and he’d downed his entire bottle of water already so it was only a matter of time before he de-hydrated so much he shrivelled up like a prune.

“Please either stop talking about your lack of a sex life with me or go and do something about it. I’m here to help you dance, not listen to you pretend you only want to fuck Johnny and not date him.”

“I’m not pretending! Fine, if you’re gonna be like that, let’s go through the choreography again. And help me work out the bit that doesn’t fit with the music! You’re the one who composed it, so it’s your responsibility.” Ten stuck his tongue out as he pushed himself to his feet, stretching his arms out behind him and shaking the tiredness out of his legs.

Kun wasn’t a dance major, but he had been writing music for Ten since their freshman year so he knew his choreographing style better than pretty much anyone besides Ten himself. He wasn’t quite as flexible or as fast, but he could keep up well enough that when Ten needed someone to work on group dance ideas with, Kun was happy to oblige. Plus, it was great exercise.

Still, it was clear that Ten was trying to distract himself by making both of them dance until they collapsed into puddles of boneless limbs and sweat, and Kun was about to beg for another break when the door swung open.

Now, there were many people that Kun did not mind being a sweating, panting mess in front of. Ten had seen him in enough dance practices (and that one time he had the worst bout of flu ever) to not care when he was disgusting, and all of his adopted children were far grosser than he was so it wasn’t really a big deal when he was bright red from exertion and looking like he’d dunked his head in a dirty bucket of water.

None of these people were the ones who walked through the door. Because despite his good deeds, the universe hated Kun and just really wanted him to suffer.

~

Taeyong had only seen Ten through the little window in the door, so when he pushed it open and saw Kun as well it was a pleasant surprise. The music was still playing through the speakers as he stepped into the room, eyes flicking over towards Ten briefly before returning to stare at Kun.

He was flushed, panting, hair slicked back with sweat and a little wild from dancing, and a very inappropriate part of Taeyong’s brain was whispering to him about how else to make the younger man look that way…

Ten cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at Taeyong, who snapped his gaze away from Kun as a blush began to creep up his neck.

“If you’re done checking out my best friend, what’s up?” Ten asked, folding his arms.

Taeyong rubbed the back of his neck with one hand in a vain attempt to hide his blush and pouted at Ten. “Rude, I thought I was your best friend.”

“You’re not the one helping me with my choreography at the moment, so Kun beats you for now.” Ten shrugged.

“Glad to know the title of ‘best friend’ is so fickle.” Kun muttered, pulling his shirt up to wipe away some of the sweat on his face and momentarily distracting Taeyong again with a flash of pale skin.

Ten rolled his eyes at Taeyong and flounced over to his bag, shoving his belongings into it. “You’re ridiculous. Both of you. I’m gonna go shower then head home, see you back at the apartment, Kun.” He sounded completely exasperated as he left the studio, but Taeyong didn’t look at his expression to confirm as he couldn’t take his eyes off of Kun, who had twisted away to pick up a towel. As he turned back, Taeyong moved his head away so fast he almost strained his neck to pretend he wasn’t staring at where Kun’s t-shirt clung to the muscles of his back.

“Oh, he really left that quickly. Well, I’ll probably catch him in the showers anyway. Is this room yours now? I’ll get out of the way.” Kun went to hurriedly put his things away, and Taeyong panicked.

“Wait! It’s not my room, I didn’t book one today.”

Kun turned back to him and tilted his head slightly, confused. “Oh? So…what did you stop by for?”

Taeyong flushed a little, a shy smile creeping across his lips. “Actually, I was coming by to invite Ten over for dinner since a load of people are coming over already…and I had planned on asking him to invite you too.”

Kun looked startled for a moment, then a wide smile spreading over his face. The way his cheeks dimpled and his eyes closed was so distracting that Taeyong almost missed his answer. “I’d love to! Do you need any help cooking? Not to brag, but I’m pretty handy with a rice cooker.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that your cooking skills are not to be underestimated. It’d be nice to have some help, actually. If you give me your number, I can text you my address?” Taeyong’s voice managed not to waver, effectively hiding how nervous he was.

“Oh, yeah, good idea. Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in.” Kun said, holding out his hand for Taeyong’s phone. The older man’s hands only shook a regular amount as he passed it over, so Taeyong decided he’d count that interaction as a success. As Kun finished typing in his number and handed back the phone, he chewed lightly on his lower lip as if preparing to say something.

“If you’re gonna stay and dance, I could…help out? I’m pretty good at being a choreography guinea pig.”

Taeyong seriously considered it for a moment. Kun was clearly good, if Ten was letting him help. But then he thought about the risk to his heart if he had to be alone in a room with a red-faced and panting Kun knowing that _he_ had been the one to cause it, and shook his head. “I appreciate it, but I try not to let people see my choreography before it’s done.”

Kun nodded, smiling a little. “Don’t worry, I understand. Text me later then, and I’ll be at yours to help out. I’m just gonna…go shower.” With that, he gathered up his belongings and hurried out.

Taeyong tried not to think too hard about Kun in the shower while he went through his stretches.

He wasn’t particularly successful.

~

“Stop stressing out, you’ll give yourself wrinkles and then Taeyong definitely won’t want to fuck you.” Ten was being his characteristically unhelpful self, distractedly sending suggestive messages to Johnny as he stood next to Kun outside of Taeyong’s apartment. Luckily, Ten knew the keycode to get into the building, but getting into the actual apartment called for Kun to knock on the door, an action that he was currently having significant trouble with.

“Can you stop thinking about sex for five minutes? God, maybe you do really need Johnny’s dick. You’re insufferable.” Kun’s fingers tightened nervously around the neck of the bottle of wine he’d brought; a random red wine one step up from the cheapest sold in their nearby mini-mart.

Ten tossed his head imperiously, shooting Kun an unimpressed look. “Not all of us are as repressed as you are, and maybe if you just told Taeyong that you’re willing to spread your legs for him at a moment’s notice, you wouldn’t be stuck with your own hand and that one sad dildo you call a sex toy collection.”

Kun flushed bright red. “I hate you.”

“Then knock on the door and go talk to your crush. Unless you’d rather stay out here with me all night?”

Kun pouted, glared, and knocked quickly before he could change his mind.

Less than a minute later the door swung open to reveal Taeyong, a wide smile brightening his face and his twinkling earrings catching the light of the setting sun, making his face look almost as if it was glowing a soft rose-gold.

 _As if he wasn’t already pretty enough,_ Kun thought, a sudden urge to cry hopelessly creeping up on him.

“Kun! I’m so glad you’re here, there are so many of us tonight and I could really do with an extra pair of hands to get everything ready. Oh, and you brought wine? You’re officially my favourite, come on in!” Taeyong’s enthusiasm made Kun feel warmth blossoming in his chest, until Ten pointedly cleared his throat.

“Nice to see you too.” His tone dripped with sarcasm and he rolled his eyes at Taeyong’s blush.

“Oh, hey Ten! I’m glad you could make it.”

Ten waved his hand and pushed past Taeyong into the apartment, immediately flopping down onto the sofa. “Yeah, yeah, I know when I’m being replaced. I’d be more offended if Kun wasn’t so cute.”

The force of Kun’s glare was softened slightly by the fact that his cheeks were bright pink. Taeyong led the younger man through the apartment into the kitchen, where the scent of frying onions, chili oil, and fresh seafood was already permeating the air. Kun scanned over the ingredients and grinned.

“You’re making jjamppong? It looks great already.”

Taeyong smiled back, before turning to a nearby drawer and digging around in it for a moment. “Among other things. The kids love seafood, and I figured since we’re a mixed Korean and Chinese company tonight…” He trailed off, then made a noise of triumph as he turned back towards Kun with a neatly folded apron in his hands. “That outfit looks really cute, I don’t want to risk getting it dirty.”

Kun flushed a little, fiddling with the cuffed sleeve of his shirt where it folded over the end of his cardigan. “Ah, thanks. Ten always says it makes me look like a dad who moonlights as an archaeology professor.” He reached out for the apron, trying hard not to suck in a sharp breath as his fingers brushed Taeyong’s.

The older man giggled a little, almost nervously, before making eye contact again. “Well, I think the dad look is pretty cute.”

Face so hot he could probably cook an egg on it, Kun busied himself with tying his apron on. In his determination to keep his eyes glued to the floor, he completely missed Taeyong twisting his body and throwing his head back as if trying to physically expel the awkward energy from his stilted attempt at flirtation. Ten made a noise of disgust from the living room and Kun looked up in time to glare at him before finally dragging his gaze back to Taeyong.

“So what do you need my help with? It looks like you have this under control.”

Taeyong pushed his hand through his hair, pushing it back before letting it flop back over his forehead in a move that momentarily punched all of the air out of Kun’s lungs. “I was trying to make tteokbokki and braised ribs as well, but I made it back from practice late and now I don’t have time to do all three by myself. Do you mind taking over with those until the jjamppong is finished?”

Kun rolled his sleeves up and gave a tiny salute, eyes scanning over the counter for the ingredients he’d need. “Don’t worry, I make great ribs. Your meal is in safe hands.”

Even though Taeyong had to direct him to where utensils and ingredients were stored, the ease with which they moved around each other in the kitchen while soft lo-fi music played out of speakers tucked neatly into a corner made Kun’s heart flutter with a mixture of excitement, happiness, and nerves. It was thrilling, to feel this sense of domesticity and comfort with Taeyong, to know that they worked well together and that the pauses in conversation weren’t awkward silence but the comfortable quiet of people just enjoying being in each other’s presence.

Really, the thing that scared him was how quickly it had come, and how difficult he knew it would be to pull himself out of this daydream when the inevitable rejection came.

“I know Sichengie isn’t the most gifted in the kitchen, so I can see why you wouldn’t ask him, but doesn’t Yuta help out?” Kun asked, slowly stirring the sauce he had made into the soup stock while the rice cakes softened in water nearby.

Taeyong laughed. “Yuta can make fried eggs and that’s about it. He’ll help out if I ask, but I’d much rather have an assistant who can actually cook. Neither of them are in tonight, anyway – Yuta and Johnny decided to spend their Sunday on a hike and managed to get lost so they decided they’d find dinner somewhere else, and Sichengie went to study with Jaehyunnie.”

“It’s a shame for them to miss out on this food. That jjamppong smells amazing.”

Taeyong grinned, lightly stepping over to steal a spoonful of the tteokbokki sauce and patting Kun on the shoulder. “And this tastes great. The kids are going to be grateful that I invited you over.”

They continued with their cooking and started to plate up the extras – kimchi from the fridge, perfectly cooked rice, a quickly chopped and mixed salad – as there was another knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Ten called, and a few seconds later the apartment was flooded with noise as seven loud and hungry children plus Taeil stormed their way through the living room. There were noises of appreciation as they spotted the food on the table, followed by yells of excitement as the visitors rounded the corner and spotted Kun.

“Kun-ge!” Chenle yelled, throwing his arms around Kun’s neck as if he hasn’t seen the elder in years, despite the fact that Kun had been at his and Jisung’s dorm helping them study less than 36 hours earlier. Kun let out a ‘yah!’ and tried to escape from Chenle’s grip so he could stop the ribs from burning, twisting himself around in vain before resigning himself to putting the final touches to the food with a limpet clinging to his shoulders.

“I didn’t realise you were coming over too, I would have brought Yangyang.” Renjun said, shoving away Donghyuck’s arms from where they had automatically come to wrap around his middle from behind.

Jeno and Jaemin made their way into the kitchen and began immediately getting plates, glasses, and cutlery for everyone, and Taeyong looked incredibly proud until Jaemin turned to him with a sly smile. “Hyung, did you not tell us that Kun-hyung would be here so you could keep him all to yourself for a while?”

Taeyong span around and whacked Jaemin on the arm with the serving spoon he was holding. “Jaemin-ah! Get out of my kitchen while I’m busy!”

Jaemin laughed in a way that implied that he was nowhere near done messing with Taeyong and flitted out of the kitchen, Jeno trailing after him. He smiled at both of them, fond apology clear in his expression. “I would apologise for my boyfriend, but both of you have dealt with him enough times to know that it would only encourage him.”

Kun laughed and finished putting the ribs on a plate and filling a huge bowl with tteokbokki. “Yah, Chenle, make yourself useful and go put these on the table.”

Chenle pouted at being told to let go, but did as instructed and made his way over to where the others had made themselves at home around the frankly enormous dining table, plonking the plates down pointedly between a bickering Mark and Donghyuck.

Taeil stuck his head into the kitchen with a smile and waved a six-pack of beers at the two chefs. “I brought alcohol to make things go easier. Do you want any?”

Taeyong and Kun both nodded enthusiastically, heading over to the group with Taeil and taking the offered drinks. Ten was already seated and teasing Mark about his puppy-like excitement at the food on the table, a glass of wine in one hand.

“Go ahead, eat up.” Taeyong said, sliding into his seat. There was a chorus of thanks, and then the sound of enthusiastic chewing and groans of appreciation as the horde descended upon the meal.

A few moments into eating, Ten shot Chenle and Jaemin significant looks and the pair exchanged matching sinister grins before Jaemin looked up with an expression of feigned innocence.

“Kun-hyung, these ribs are so good. I didn’t know you could get ribs this tasty outside of a restaurant.” Jaemin grinned, and Kun looked at him suspiciously.

“Why do I get the impression that you’ve done something I won’t like and are trying to get on my good side?” He asked, eyes narrowed. Jaemin just smiled brightly and winked at him.

Chenle followed the cue and leant forwards, resting his chin in his hands as he grinned impishly towards Kun, eyes flicking occasionally over to both Taeyong and Ten. “Kun-ge really is the perfect man. He can cook, he can sing, he can play the piano, he can do magic…plus he’s so handsome! What more could anyone want?”

Jisung would have pouted if Ten hadn’t leant over to whisper to him exactly what it was Chenle was up to. Instead, he grinned and nodded his agreement.

Taeyong’s eyes widened and he looked at Kun with a slightly awed expression. “You can do magic?”

Ten groaned and dropped his head into his arms, which were folded on the table. Was it really worth having to sit through another of Kun’s magic tricks just to see his best friend happy?

Kun nodded, absentmindedly spooning more food onto Donghyuck’s plate – Donghyuck had taken to placing himself next to Kun whenever they ate together as the elder had an almost pathological habit of making sure that the plates of anyone within arm’s reach were never empty. “I just learned some sleight-of-hand, it’s nothing really impressive. Scouts, you know.”

Mark clapped his hands and pointed enthusiastically across the table. “Oh, Kun-hyung, do that one with the glasses! That’s a great trick.” He pulled off his glasses and thrust them towards Kun, who took them with only slight reluctance.

Placing them on the table, Kun rubbed his fingers together slightly. “Watch carefully, ok?” He said, grinning at Taeyong. He concentrated for a second, then lifted his hands quickly and the glasses flipped over. Taeyong and the assorted underclassmen made suitably impressed noises, and Kun blushed.

As Kun returned the glasses to Mark and sat down, Ten lifted his head with a sly smile. “Taeyong thinks magicians are sexy.”

Both Kun and Taeyong flushed bright red and Taeyong let out an awkward giggle that held a tinge of panic while Kun choked on a mouthful of rib.

“I didn’t say that! I just think it’s cool. Ignore him.” Taeyong waved his hands at Kun, ignoring the self-satisfied expressions on Ten, Jaemin, and Chenle’s faces.

Kun glared at Ten. “Don’t worry, I’ve been doing that for years.”

Taeil cleared his throat and changed the subject, talking about one of the music professors who had a reputation for being overly harsh towards any kind of music that wasn’t classical. Kun decided in that moment that Taeil was suddenly his favourite.

After they’d finished eating, Taeyong and Kun were forcibly dragged away from the dirty dishes and made to sit down in front of the TV while Taeil co-ordinated the clean-up. Taeyong winced as the sound of something shattering followed by Donghyuck and Renjun both immediately yelling at each other came from behind them, then sighed and gave Kun a shy smile.

“I’ll be honest, I kind of had an ulterior motive when I invited you to come for dinner tonight.”

Kun tried to ignore the way his stomach flipped at that. “More than just wanting someone else to help you cook for once?” He tried to tease, hoping it sounded cute and not like he was trying way too hard to be funny.

Taeyong laughed, pushing his hair back. “Yeah, in addition to that. I was wondering, if you’re not too busy – would you compose something for me for the November showcase?”

Kun stared at him for a second, completely lost for words. Taeyong immediately started to backtrack, stammering. “Sorry, that was- that was probably really presumptuous, I—”

Kun started forward, jolted out of his frozen state by Taeyong’s words. “No, no, I’d love to, I was just surprised. You have so many friends who probably make way better music than me, I wasn’t expecting you to ask me.”

“I do have friends in the music department, but Ten played me some of your stuff recently, and…” Taeyong rubbed at his forehead awkwardly, avoiding Kun’s eyes. “It was really powerful, Kun-ah. I could feel the emotion in it, and I was hoping I could ask your permission just to dance to that song but Ten told me he’d already claimed that piece for himself.”

Kun seemed to have gone silent again, mouth slightly agape in surprise at Taeyong’s words. It wasn’t that he didn’t think his music was good – honestly, it was probably the thing about himself that he was most confident in. It was the fact that Taeyong, Lee Taeyong, prettiest man on campus and darling of the dance programme, was nervous about asking Kun for his music. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “I’d – I’d love to. Compose for you. Working on a piece for a senior showcase would be amazing, my professors would love that.” Kun smiled brightly, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. “If you’re free tomorrow, we could go to one of the practice rooms and I could show you the pieces I’m working on at the moment? And you could pick one that suits you.”

Taeyong returned the smile, his brown eyes warm and inviting and drawing Kun deeper under his spell. “I’m done with classes at two, so that sounds perfect. I’m sure I’ll struggle to pick between your pieces, if the one Ten’s using is anything to go by.”

Kun flushed, bit his lip as he grinned, and pointedly ignored Ten miming vomiting in the background.

~

When Kun needed time to himself, time to relax and take his mind off of things, he made sure that everyone else was shut out of the kitchen and he cooked. Most often when he was cooking for the purpose of stress-relief more than needing food he found himself digging out the notebook full of recipes his mother had given him when he’d been preparing to uproot his entire life and go to America for college. It was comforting, and the familiar smells made him feel like he was back home in his parent’s kitchen. It helped him drown out some of the near-constant stress of college, and plus he got some great food out of it.

The current situation pushing him into stress-cooking was his…thing with Taeyong. They’d been meeting regularly under the pretence of discussing Taeyong’s showcase, and at first that really had been the reason. Taeyong had thought carefully about the demos Kun had played for him, listening to each several times and asking questions that were so insightful and interested that Kun couldn’t help the little flutter his heart gave at the idea that Taeyong actually, genuinely cared about his music. Then, once he’d picked one, they’d met up two days later to talk over the progress on it and make changes together. Taeyong had been delighted with it, particularly enjoying the vocals that Xiaojun and Taeil had recorded for him.

But as the next week had passed, they’d started meeting up more often with fewer legitimate excuses for it. First it was Taeyong taking him for coffee as a thank-you for his work, then it was hanging out in the group study area of the library while they worked on their separate projects, then it was going food shopping together because they just happened to both be heading to the only Asian supermarket near campus at the same time.

Kun was finding that the more time they spent together, the more it became obvious to him that he had progressed from ‘little crush’ to full-blown pining. It didn’t help that sometimes he could swear that Taeyong was flirting with him, and Kun’s face felt permanently hot whenever the two of them were together. But it didn’t change the fact that he was nervous. Taeyong was so talented and kind-hearted that it was honestly overwhelming, and Kun was starting to doubt that anything he could compose would be enough for someone so wonderful.

Hence, the stress-cooking.

The real beneficiaries of Kun’s need for distraction were his friends, who just so happened to always turn up for dinner on the days when Kun was stress-cooking for hours (thanks to Ten, who had created a secret group chat specifically for the purpose of alerting everyone that there was delicious food up for grabs). So even though he was kind of out of it, he wasn’t particularly surprised when Ten poked his head around the door to inform Kun that there would be nine of them eating that night. Honestly, Kun had probably prepared enough food to feed a small army. Well, whatever didn’t get eaten today would keep for the rest of the week. No food would be wasted under Qian Kun’s roof.

Within an hour of Ten’s announcement, he and Kun were squished onto the sofa with Yangyang between them, Yukhei and Jungwoo piled into the battered armchair next to it, and Xiaojun, Hendery, Yuta, and Sicheng huddled up on the floor around the low coffee table which was almost groaning under the weight of all the food.

“See, Xiaojun, Yuta agrees that doing circus thing where you swing around and like, throw each other would be super romantic!” Hendery said, gesticulating wildly with his chopsticks.

Xiaojun frowned. “First of all, it’s called aerial trapeze, and second of all, you only think it’s a good idea because you’re distracted by thinking that we’d look cute in skin-tight circus outfits.”

“Well, we would! Your butt would look great!” Hendery pouted, and Xiaojun rolled his eyes.

“It’s definitely romantic.” Yuta cut in. “The displays of strength, the flexibility, the test of your trust for each other…”

Sicheng rolled his eyes and filled in when Yuta trailed off. “The threat of imminent death when you definitely drop me and break my neck.”

Yuta gasped dramatically and flung his arms around Sicheng, pressing kisses to his cheek. “I’d never drop you, baby, I’d make sure I hit the ground first and cushioned your body with mine.”

Jungwoo smiled and leaned against Yukhei’s side. “I think it’d be cute too. It’s not something you’d get many chances to do, so why not take the opportunity?”

Yukhei nodded. “Yeah! Plus, Jungwoo’s so light, it’d be fun to fling him around. Like a doll or something!”

Jungwoo’s eyes lit up and he gave Yukhei his sappiest smile, cupping the his boyfriend’s cheeks with both hands and kissing him with an over-the-top ‘mwah’ sound. “My Yukhei is definitely strong enough to do it.”

“Ignoring the grossness going on over there,” Yangyang interjected, sticking his tongue out at the gratuitous display of affection, “trapeze would be so fun. Plus, like, if you could do that, people would think you were, like, the coolest.”

Xiaojun glared at the youngest member of their dinner party. “Singles couch doesn’t get an opinion.”

“It might not be the singles couch much longer.” Yuta said, wiggling his eyebrows at both Kun and Ten. Ten flipped him off, Kun hid his face in the bowl he was eating from.

Hendery joined in with the eyebrow wiggling. “Oh, Kun-ge, are you finally planning on making a move?”

Kun peaked out from behind the bowl, narrowing his eyes. “Why do you assume he’s talking about me?”

“Because Ten’s too stupid to make a move on Johnny because he’s afraid Johnny thinks he’s a slut even though no one we know would ever shame him for his sex life and if they did Taeyong-hyung would stab them in the throat.” Sicheng said mildly, ignoring the affronted noises coming from Ten.

Kun put his bowl down with a sigh. “No, I’m not. I’m guessing Ten and Yuta are to blame for the fact that you all seem to know, but I don’t know what you’re all so interested in. I have a crush, it’ll go away, and I won’t have to ever have to worry about making things awkward with the inevitable rejection.”

Jungwoo pouted. “So you and Taeyongie-hyung aren’t going to go on a date, fall in love, then get married and adopt all of us?”

Kun spluttered and went bright red, yelling “no!” before dashing into the kitchen to chug some water and get rid of the overwhelming flush on his face.

Behind his retreating back, Ten and Yuta shared conspiratorial smiles.

~

Later, Kun had admitted to Taeyong that he'd spent some time that evening deciding that he really was going to murder Ten. When Taeyong had pointed out that he really wouldn't have wanted Kun to go to jail, Kun had looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Doyoung would have helped me hide the body. And none of my kids would have snitched on me. Yangyang would probably have helped if I'd asked. You didn't see how _smug_ he looked, Yongie-hyung. It was insufferable."

Meanwhile, Taeyong was considering buying Ten a huge box of fancy chocolates as a thank you. He’d been trying to think of a way to ask Kun on a date without it being super obvious he wanted it to be a date, something more than just coffee or studying together. And Ten had clearly figured him out, because he’d brought them both on this group outing then promptly abandoned them to enjoy the end of their meal together, effectively taking the responsibility out of Taeyong’s hands.

Taeyong sighed happily, resting his hand on his stomach and grinning at Kun. “That was amazing. Maybe the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Your recommendations are great.”

“It was pretty incredible, we should come back here again.” Kun said, then his eyes snapped up to meet Taeyong’s. “As a group, I mean.”

Taeyong tried not to let that hurt. Kun was probably just…trying not to assume, right?

“I’m down to come back here any time. Since we’re here already, though, how about dessert?” Taeyong asked, leaning forward.

Kun nodded, caught the eye of a waitress, and had a conversation in rapid Mandarin which Taeyong caught absolutely none of. The younger man looked back at him, dimples forming deep cavities in his cheeks as he smiled shyly. “I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of ordering for the both of us. You’ll like it though, I promise.”

Taeyong smiled, patting Kun’s hand where it rested on the table. “I trust your judgement.”

While they waited for their dessert to arrive, their conversation flitted from topic to topic, between music and dance and TV and what kind of pets they’d have if they could have any animal in the world.

“Cats.” Kun said decisively.

“Really? Anything in the world and you’d pick a cat?” Taeyong teased, trying not to let how soft he felt on the inside show on his face.

“Definitely. I love cats. The only thing stopping me is the tenancy agreement, but as soon as we’ve graduated I’m looking for a place that allows pets and getting a cat. Maybe two.” Kun grinned, and Taeyong melted. There was just something about how _happy_ Kun seemed, just talking about something as ordinary as wanting a cat, that made something deep inside him yearn for that domesticity. Specifically, that domesticity with Kun.

“I work at the cat café near campus part time, so that sates the need somewhat.” The younger man continued with a wry smile pulling at his lips.

Taeyong started out of his daydreams about him and Kun snuggled up on the sofa in some beautifully decorated apartment surrounded by cats, staring at him in surprise. “There’s a cat café near campus?”

Kun shot him an incredulous look. “You’ve been at this college for four years and you never knew?” At the sad shake of Taeyong’s head, Kun reached across the table and patted the elder’s forearm comfortingly. “You should come by when I’m on shift! I can give you all the tips on how to get the meanest cats to really like you. And…” He looked at Taeyong through his eyelashes, biting his bottom lip gently with a smile somewhere between shy and teasing. “I can probably swing you a free cookie and everything.”

Taeyong blushed and giggled, slapping his hand over his mouth to hide the slightly braying nature of his awkward laugh. Ten always said it was cute when he laughed like a goose, but he couldn’t be sure that Kun would think the same (he hoped he wasn’t imagining the flash of softness that flashed through Kun’s eyes at the sound). “For a free cookie and a cute barista? I definitely think I can swing by.” Every time Taeyong attempted flirting, it took all of his courage, but it was worth it for the shy blush that spread across Kun’s cheeks, and half the time the younger man looked so flustered there was little danger of him flirting back. Not that Taeyong didn’t want Kun to flirt back – far from it – he just didn’t think he’d survive it.

“What, the cute barista isn’t enough of a draw? I need to bribe you with free food to get you to pay me a visit?” Kun’s ears were bright red, but his eyes and smile were teasing, promising. Taeyong had been right – he wasn’t going to survive Kun flirting back.

Luckily he was saved from imminent cardiac arrest by the arrival of their dessert, a small basket of something golden brown and covered in sugar. Taeyong shoved one into his mouth to stop himself from saying something stupid, and immediately let out an almost pornographic moan at how delicious it tasted.

“It’s, uh…” Kun trailed off, eyes going slightly glassy and blush spreading from his ears down his neck, before he seemed to shake himself and continued speaking. “It’s nian gao. They’re usually a new year food, but this place seems to have them on the menu year-round. It’s basically a sugar cake wrapped in pastry and deep fried. Insanely good, but I can only eat one or two at a time.”

Taeyong swallowed, trying not to let himself feel too humiliated over his involuntary sounds. “Understandable. I’m glad I have practice tomorrow to burn off some of these calories.”

They finished the plate alarmingly quickly, conversation quieting as they consumed their dessert. Once they were finished, they called for the bill and argued for at least five minutes over which of them would pay before deciding to split it 50/50.

As they made their way out of the restaurant and back in the general direction of their apartments, Kun suggested they take a detour through a nearby park and Taeyong almost jumped at the idea of spending more time with the younger man.

The park was beautiful at night, moonlight reflecting off the nearby pond and the soft glow of the intermittent street lamps creating little pools of visibility in the darkness. Kun’s face looked somehow sharp and soft at the same time in this lighting, and Taeyong had to remind himself that staring was really not a good way to disguise how much he desperately wanted to grab Kun’s face and mash their lips together until the younger man was breathless and panting and clinging to his shirt like the world would end if he ever let go.

God, he _wanted._ It was a little scary, how much he wanted when it came to Kun. But out here, under the moonlight, swapping childhood stories and talking about everything from their favourite movies to what was, objectively, the worst Coke flavour, it was far too easy to ignore the fear and hold onto the hope that maybe, somewhere deep down, Kun wanted too.

All too soon they were reaching the point where they would have to part ways, say goodnight for the evening and leave each other behind. It would be so easy to invite Kun back to his place, bring him in for coffee or tea, maybe…a kiss…

But he didn’t do that. Because Taeyong was, unfortunately, a coward. Instead, he squeezed his hands into such a tight fist that he almost broke the skin on his palm with his nails, letting the sharp pain distract him from the overwhelming urge to reach out and pull Kun’s body against his own,

“I had a really nice time tonight. Even the part where our friends totally ditched us. Actually, especially that part.” Kun said softly, a sheepish smile curving his (soft-looking, distracting) lips.

Taeyong chuckled, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Me too. I know we’ve been spending a lot of time together anyway, but…this was really nice. We should do this again sometime.”

Kun nodded. “I’d really like that. Well…goodnight.” He gave an aborted little wave, before turning and walking off in the opposite direction from Taeyong’s apartment.

And if Taeyong stayed rooted to that spot, watching Kun’s slowly diminishing silhouette disappear into the night, for the next five minutes?

No one had to know but him.

~

Kun was happy for Ten and Johnny, he really was. He cared a lot about Ten, and he’d watched his best friend tear himself up over having Feelings for so long that seeing the two of them together made his heart feel warm and brought a soft smile to his face.

But still, that happiness didn’t stop Kun from screaming in terror when Johnny walked into his kitchen at 2am when the younger man hadn’t even known he was there.

“Huh? Oh shit, sorry Kun-ah. I didn’t realise you were up.” Johnny said, rubbing his eyes sleepily and doing nothing about the fact that he was standing in his friend’s kitchen in just a pair of boxers.

“It’s fine, you just startled me. I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t even know _Ten_ was here.” Kun replied, a hand pressed to his chest where his heartbeat was slowly returning to its normal speed.

“We were gonna stay over at my place, but Ten forgot his skincare bag so we decided to come back here. Don’t you usually go to bed at like, 10pm? Why are you awake?” Johnny moved over to the cabinets where Ten had already started stocking Johnny’s favourite snacks and protein shakes in a move that was disgustingly domestic considering that they had only been together for two weeks.

“Don’t be rude, I just appreciate a proper sleep schedule.” Kun whined, going back to making tea like he had been before Johnny had scared the shit out of him. He sighed, flicking the kettle on and staring down at the mug on the counter as if it had the answer to all of life’s questions. “I just can’t sleep.”

Johnny looked over to him, cheeks full of trail mix. His voice was slightly muffled when he spoke. “Is it the composition? Ten said you’ve been worrying about it. I can help you out if you want, sometimes fresh ears can help a lot.”

Kun shook his head, pouring the now-boiled water into the mug and watching it turn a soothing shade of light green around the strainer. “It’s not the composition, it’s been finished for a couple of days now. It’s…related, though.”

“Is it about Taeyong?” Johnny put the bag of trail mix down on the counter and swallowed as he spoke, giving Kun an inquisitive look.

Kun nodded. “I just don’t want to let him down. He trusts me enough to let me write the music for the midterm showcase even though we haven’t known each other that long, but what if it’s not good enough? What if I mess it up for him? I’m already messing things up by not giving him the final version when the showcase is only a month away.”

Johnny tilted his head slightly, frowning. “That’s bullshit, Kun. I’ve heard your music, and you’re insanely talented. Your style matches Taeyong’s perfectly. You won’t let him down, and a couple of days waiting won’t ruin anything.”

“That…means a lot, coming from you, hyung. I just can’t help but think about it. He’s so talented, and I want to help him show that, but…I don’t know if my music is good enough.” Kun sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face before taking a sip of his tea. It burned his mouth a little, but the heat was soothing in his stomach.

The look Johnny gave him could only be described as considering. “This isn’t really about the music, is it? It’s more than that. It’s about _you_.”

Kun said nothing, gripping his mug tighter. After a moment of silence, he sighed. “I can’t make myself confess. I couldn’t even tell him at the restaurant, even after all the effort you guys put in to basically force us on a date.”

Johnny smiled sheepishly, stuffing more raisins and chocolate chips into his mouth. “You figured that out then, huh?”

Kun raised an eyebrow, finally cracking a smile. “None of you are particularly convincing actors, even Sichengie and he’s a Theatre major.”

“Whoops. We figured you didn’t confess since Ten won’t stop complaining about how we can’t go on double dates yet. So…why didn’t you?” Johnny asked.

Kun sighed again, looking at the floor so he couldn’t see Johnny’s expression. “Because you’re right, it’s not really about the music at all. I’m afraid that I’m not good enough for him. He’s kind, and caring, and incredibly talented. He’s literally the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. He makes me laugh,and being around him just feels…good. He deserves someone more like him. Someone that makes him feel the way I feel around him.”

Johnny blinked at him, looking suddenly pissed off. “Kun, what the hell are you talking about? You literally just described yourself. I may only have known you for a couple of months, but Ten has known you for years. You should hear the way he talks about you when you’re not around. So I know for a fact that you’re all those things and more, but you’re too hard on yourself to see it. If you opened your eyes and saw what you mean to people around you, you wouldn’t talk about yourself like that, but you refuse.”

Kun blinked at him, mouth slightly dropped open. “Hyung, you’re kind of scary when you’re angry.”

Johnny’s expression immediately flipped into a smile, a quiet laugh escaping him. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Kun smiled softly, taking another sip of his tea. “I need to just tell him, don’t I?”

“All I’ll say is that I was exactly where you are two weeks ago, and now I have a really cute boyfriend. Sometimes the risk is worth taking.” Johnny said with a grin, putting the trail mix back in the cupboard and spreading his arms wide. “Come here, you need a hug.”

“You do realise you’re just in your boxers, right?” Kun said, raising an eyebrow.

Johnny shrugged. “If you don’t want a hug, that’s your loss.”

“Actually, a hug sounds nice.” Kun stepped forward and Johnny wrapped him up in a hug, patting him on the shoulder comfortingly. Kun breathed in deeply, the reassuring weight of Johnny’s arms grounding him and making him feel more secure than he had in days. It seemed a little silly, that something as simple as knowing that someone cared enough about his fragile heart to give him a proper hug would make him feel so much better, but Kun had never claimed to be a particularly complex man.

“You should probably go back to bed. Don’t you get up at, like, 6am?” Johnny said, ruffling the shorter man’s hair like an affectionate older brother.

Kun elbowed Johnny lightly and pushed away, drinking the rest of his tea and putting the mug into the dishwasher. “Yeah, yeah. Seriously, thanks hyung. You really helped.”

Johnny tapped his fingers to his temple in salute as Kun made his way back to his bedroom. Seconds after the door closed behind him, Ten slunk his way into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Johnny’s waist. “You’re the perfect man. Thanks for talking to him.”

Johnny grinned, leaning down for a kiss. “I’m glad to help out. And Kun’s my friend, too. I want him to be happy.”

Ten bit his lip, smiling up at Johnny. “God, you’re so hot when you’re being a sweetheart. Come on, come back to bed.”

The little squeak that escaped Ten as Johnny scooped him up and carried him, bridal style, into their bedroom went unheard by Kun, who was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

~

The next day, Taeyong had awoken to exactly the text notification he’d been waiting on.

**Kunnie: hey hyung! the track is all done!**

**Kunnie: are you free to meet up today so I can give it to you?**

Taeyong grinned down at his screen as he typed a rapid reply, before leaping out of bed to dress and grab his dance gear for the day.

**Me: I’m free all morning, I can meet you at the café in an hour??**

Taeyong had one leg in his trousers, hair sticking up all over the place from how quickly he’d shoved his head into his t-shirt, when he received the reply.

**Kunnie: sounds perfect, I’ll see you there** **:)**

Taeyong tried to make sure the nervous excitement that was making his hands shake was fully expelled by the time he saw Kun by walking the whole way to campus in the bracing cold, cheeks turning red as the wind whipped against his face. He had convinced himself, and he was ready.

Today, he was going to tell Kun that he liked him and finally take him on a proper date. With hand-holding and romance and everything.

He arrived at the café five minutes before they were set to meet and Kun was _still_ somehow there before him, sat at what Taeyong had started to think of as ‘their table’ with his laptop out in front of him and his chunky headphones wrapped around his slender neck. Taeyong noticed that Kun’s perfectly trimmed nails were drumming against one of the café’s mugs and made a quick diversion to pick up some coffee before making his way over to the younger man where he sat, oblivious to the world around him.

“Hey!” Taeyong said, sliding into the chair opposite Kun. The younger man, for his part, only jumped a little.

“Hi hyung. I’m happy you could make it!” Kun smiled warmly and Taeyong felt his heart melt just a little more.

“I’m glad you finished it up this morning, I have a long booking with one of the practice rooms this afternoon so finishing up the choreography to the final piece will be such a load off my mind.” Taeyong grinned.

“I’m glad I finished it too. I didn’t want to cause any problems for you.” Kun said, nails still nervously tapping out an irregular beat on the surface of his mug.

Taeyong looked at him incredulously. “You’re worried about causing problems for me when I’m the one asking you to take time out of your already busy schedule to make something for me? I’m so grateful that you even said yes in the first place, Kun, I’d never want you to feel rushed for me.”

Taeyong desperately hoped he wasn’t imagining the blush that seemed to form on Kun’s cheeks as the younger man spoke. “I didn’t rush, I promise. I…wanted to do it quickly. For you, hyung.”

Taeyong smiled, biting down lightly on his lower lip. “That just makes me even luckier, I think. Can I…?” He trailed off, hands reaching out for Kun’s laptop.

Kun nodded, spinning the laptop around so Taeyong could see the screen and handing the elder the headphones. Once Taeyong had them comfortably settled onto his ears, Kun took a deep breath and pressed play.

Instantly, Taeyong felt the music flood his entire body, tingling across his skin and deep into his muscles from the top of his head to the very tips of his toes. It was _perfect._ The beat was heavy and unique, varied and interesting in a way that made Taeyong itch to try out some new moves. But the melody was what tied it all together. A little bit sexy, a hint of unfamiliar confidence; he could feel the points that had been specifically sculpted to give Taeyong somewhere to show off, places to emphasise his skill.

Once he was finished listening, Taeyong pulled off the headphones and sent Kun his most dazzling, overwhelmed smile. “It’s _incredible,_ Kun-ah. I just really hope I can choreograph something that lives up to it! I can’t believe you pinned down my style so well.”

Kun definitely flushed this time, lips pink and bitten raw where he’d been worrying at them while waiting for Taeyong’s final verdict. “That’s a bit much, hyung. It’s nothing special, I just. I just wanted to make something I thought might help show how talented you are.”

Now Taeyong felt his body flooding with a different kind of warmth. The care, the attention Kun had paid to every little comment from Taeyong during the process of making the music, shone through every single note and beat. Kun had clearly put in so much work and done it all just to help out a friend, and now here he was trying to claim that it was nothing special.

Taeyong just wasn’t having it.

“Kun-ah. I’m not just saying this for no reason, I promise. This is special. It’s special to me, because you made it. It’s our piece, right? Your music, my choreography. Whatever comes from this showcase, the result will be ours.” Something inside him moved his hand without prior approval from Taeyong’s brain and he found himself wrapping long, slender fingers around Kun’s pretty wrist (how could a _wrist_ be _pretty_? Something Taeyong would have to consider in more detail later). “I wish you could see how talented you are. That you could see yourself-“ _the way I see you,_ he narrowly stopped himself from saying. Taeyong took a deep breath. “That you could see yourself as an incredible musician. Because that’s what you are.”

Kun’s eyes were wide and his mouth parted slightly, staring into Taeyong’s face as if searching for something. And he almost said it, the words were on the tip of Taeyong’s tongue – _I really, really like you, I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first saw you, you’re beautiful in all the ways it’s possible for someone to be_ –

But Kun looked so vulnerable, so young in that moment, and Taeyong was still a coward.

So, he swallowed the words and pulled his fingers away. 

And the moment passed.

Kun fumbled in his bag, pulling out a memory stick and sliding it across the table towards Taeyong. “It’s, um, it’s in a few different formats on here. Let me know if you need it some other way. I have to get to class, I’ll see you around hyung.” And with that, Kun shoved his laptop away and dashed out of the café.

Taeyong ran his fingers through his hair before dropping his head to the table. A few minutes later, he lifted his head enough to pull his phone from his pocket and shoot off a text.

**Me: I couldn’t do it. I was too scared.**

**Yuta: I’ll have ice cream and a Disney marathon queued up for when you get home. Cuddle piles not optional <3**

Taeyong sniffed and rubbed at his eye with the back of his hand, unsure of when they’d filled with unshed tears.

He may be a mess, but at least he could rely on his best friend to pick him back up again.

~

Looking back later, Taeyong would despair for his past self’s awkwardness and fear when in reality, things had been a lot easier than he had convinced himself they would be.

He had thought he would have to pine from afar for Kun forever, because there was no way he would work up the courage to actually ask the younger man on a date until they were both old and grey and Taeyong’s only companions were his cats and his collection of dance trophies (he might be bleak about his romantic future, but it was still his daydream and he could be a world-renowned dancer in it if he wanted).

He’d been so glad a few days after the disaster at the café when Kun had sat next to him in the library while they worked, a soft smile on his face and no words exchanged between them, and they settled together again. The pair had spent time even more time together in the last month than they had while working on the song, this time with no pretences. Just…enjoying each other’s company.

Taeyong hadn’t gotten close to confessing again.

It was cold outside on the day of the showcase, the November chill seeping through to his skin even though he was wearing his thickest winter coat, and Taeyong was thankful when he entered the backstage area of the auditorium and could place himself next to the heater as he changed, stretched, and tried to prepare himself.

Taeyong had thought, as a naïve freshman excited to be given the opportunity to study somewhere with such a prestigious dance programme, that he would get less nervous the more he had to perform. Unfortunately, the inverse had been the case – he had so much more to lose now, so many more expectations to meet that sometimes the weight of them makes him feel like he might not be able to even walk out onto the stage.

Luckily, that weight dispersed the second he felt the heat of the stage lights on his skin and the first notes of the music rang out across the auditorium.

He’d known that Kun was talented, and that having the perfect music for this piece would help him score the grade that he needed to graduate with the highest accolades possible, to draw the attention of any talent scouts watching from the audience, to show everything that he was made of to everyone.

He hadn’t been prepared for how much emotion he’d be able to pour into every movement from just the knowledge that Kun had written this for _him,_ had made every part of this music to suit Taeyong. It felt so intimate as he danced, the heavy hip hop beat and the hint of arrogance to the melody controlling his limbs as if he were a puppet being drawn across the floor by invisible strings. The two and a half minutes of choreography flew past in a blur and suddenly he was in his ending pose with no clear idea of how he’d got there and there was raucous applause coming from the audience below him, and his eyes fell on his ecstatic-looking coach before flicking to the wings where he spotted Ten and Sicheng, whooping and cheering and stomping their feet with excitement. Ten’s head jerked towards the audience and Taeyong swung back around, ready to take his bow and escape the stage.

He’d almost choked on his saliva when his eyes were drawn to a figure in the centre of the crowd: Kun, his hair dyed a pale pastel mint-green instead of the dark blue he’d had for the entire time they’d known each other. Taeyong stared for a full five seconds before suddenly remembering where he was, finishing his bows before hurrying off stage as quickly as he could. He had another group performance after this, and the big final number, but he had to do this now before he lost his nerve _again._

He’d been lucky that his solo was right before the intermission, and he weaved through the crowd throwing distracted nods of thanks in the directions of the disembodied voices congratulating him on his piece until he stopped in his tracks, eyes fixed on that familiar smile, those impossible-to-forget dimples.

“Hi, hyung.” Kun said, one hand fiddling with his hilariously dad-like tie (a gift from Chenle as thanks for helping him with his midterms, Taeyong later found out) and the other holding onto a frankly ridiculous bouquet. Kun held out the bouquet, his eyes curved up in that way that Taeyong knew he wanted to be the cause of for the rest of his life.

Kun had brought him flowers.

Kun had written him music and brought something into Taeyong’s life that he hadn’t known he was missing. Kun was laughter and beauty and home and warmth all wrapped up in a single person and suddenly he couldn’t hold back any longer.

In two long strides Taeyong was stood in front of Kun, one hand dipping to grip the younger man’s waist while the fingers of his other hand slid their way into that damn pastel hair and suddenly he was bringing their mouths together in a kiss, a brief press of lips that Kun deepened in an instant. Kun’s free hand was suddenly gripping his shirt, pressing their chests together until there was no space between them at all.

They could have been kissing for seconds or hours, Taeyong would never have known, until Kun suddenly pulled back and gasped for breath. He looked thoroughly debauched, hair a mess and lips swollen slick and shiny, and Taeyong was sure he didn’t look any less affected.

“I like you so much, hyung. In case that wasn’t clear. I was going to ask before we kissed, but I like the way you did it too. Will you be my boyfriend?”

Taeyong laughed delightedly, nodding his head before pressing their foreheads together tenderly. “Kun-ah, there is nothing I want more.”

And if they spent the rest of the interval in Taeyong’s dressing room, pressing desperate kisses to each other’s lips and rocking their bodies together until Ten banged on the door and told them to stop fucking in public when Taeyong had places to be?

Well, they had a lot of time to make up for.

~

The flowers sat in a vase in Taeyong’s kitchen for about a week, until they had wilted and browned so much that he really couldn’t justify displaying them for any longer. The next day, Kun turned up for their date night with another bunch of flowers and a smile on his face.

Taeyong had never had a favourite flower before, and now if you asked him what it was the answer would change like clockwork. Once a week, on a Thursday. On date night.


End file.
